Upside Down Hourglass
by DuHSPaZZiNGFeL
Summary: What if, after the Fourth Shinobi War and Naruto's battles with Sasuke and Madara, something restarted his life and they all went back, only, they never remembered what happened? He lives a different life, with parents he doesn't remember being without. AU semi-time travel.
1. Half Life Full Life

**Description:**** What if, during the Fourth Shinobi War and Naruto's subsequent battles with Sasuke and Madara, something restarted his life and they all went back to the beginning, only, they never remembered what happened to them? Naruto lives a different life with the family he never had and a mother and father he doesn't even remember growing up without. **

**Another one of those "what if Naruto had a family?" stories that not enough people seem to love as much as me.**

**Genre:**** Family/Drama**

**Pairings?:**** No real pairings besides MinaKushi and I suppose barely hinted at NaruSaku, but it's not really obvious. This is a family oriented story and will mostly focus on Naruto's relationship with his father and mother (but mostly father), as if he did grow up with them. **

**Disclaimer:**** I do NOT own Naruto. Otherwise, I would not be writing fanfiction.**

**Upside-Down Hourglass  
><strong>_And yet the clock still turns…_

**Chapter One:  
>Half Life; Full Life<strong>

"_If you could change it all and not know of the changes you could make, would you do it? If you could go back in time and see the faces you wished you could see and spend the time you wished you could spend with the people you love, would you seize that chance, or destroy it altogether?"_

* * *

><p>His eyes were a dazzling blue, like the azure of the sky on a sunny, cloudless day. The other's eyes were black and dark with no light and no brilliance, bottomless and hopeless; the deepest depths of night. That they were complete opposites from each other was no secret. In fact, it was so obvious that it almost hurt.<p>

"Sasuke!" One shouted at the top of his lungs as he lunged at his once-friend and comrade with a sharpened kunai knife.

A clash of lightning and swirls of tremendous chakra circulated in turbulent airs. A blue, a mauve, a black, a yellow, gold, sparked with force and intense heat, searing pains and slashes bit against skin and flesh and tears in clothes…

If swords and metal could sing, this would be their perfect song. With droplets of hopeless blood spilled almost meaninglessly upon the earth, an Uchiha and an Uzumaki (or would it be Namikaze?) became one upon the battlefield. A teen whose family was annihilated before his very eyes at a tender, single digit age by his own older brother, and another whose family was killed by some cruel twist of fate on the very date of his birth. They fought with such vigor, any spectator would never be able to keep up, and frankly it was impossible to.

"Did you think you could change the world?" the dark-haired Uchiha spat in his opponent's face. "Did you think a dead-last like you could make this world of hatred into something else, something _peaceful_? How naïve. How idealistic. Your reasoning is shrewd only to fools!"

Naruto, the blond young man, twisted in midair and flipped onto his left leg, effectively avoiding a hard punch from Sasuke. In turn, his eyes suddenly flickered into a yellow hue, his slits transforming sideways, like that of a toad and a red pain-like substance appeared on his eyelids. Sage Mode was activated only because he had a clone hidden somewhere beyond reach that was already in it. His chakra was too exhausted to revert back into Tailed-Beast Form.

With an uppercut to the chin, Naruto caught his enemy off guard and the dark teen pummeled to the ground, a grunt escaping his lips along with the impact.

The Uchiha growled under his breath. _Damn it, _he thought_,_ _my chakra's too exhausted to bring out another Mangekyou Sharingan attack. _His thoughts wandered until he came up with a plan and took a deep breath, steadying himself as he stood back up.

"Sharingan!" And Sasuke's eyes turned blood red.

The tomoe swirled around his pupils. They looked like black commas going round and round in a constant circle-dance. With the blonde's movements faster as a Sage, his eyes caught them with their natural bloodline limit. And they danced in a bloodthirsty tirade, avoiding and blocking each other's pointblank attacks, superb skill showing through their emotionless shinobi masks.

An elbow crashed into Naruto's side, and his counterattack consisted of an attempted heel to the head, which ended up being a futile attempt. He let fly a few dozen shuriken, enhancing them his nature energy, and Sasuke flew to the right, avoiding the projectiles with a whip and twirl of his short sword.

The two eventually leapt backwards, tired and worn, heaving, and their hearts pounding painfully against their chests while salty streams of sweat mixed with the various crimson cuts and wounds upon them. Without warning, they both decided to finish it all and formed their ultimate attacks in the palm of one hand, chakra boiling out of their skin like water from an underground well, and the forms pulsed forth, bubbling to the surface.

"_Rasengan!_"

"_Chidori!_"

They bellowed in unison and only a bright flash of white echoed in the late afternoon sunlight, obscuring the two from view. The irony of the beautiful day's surroundings shrouded their charge and their fists bumped as if one could read each other's heart as good shinobi do. An anguished cry of "Naruto!" in the distance from a female, pink-haired girl was heard as she stood unbearably still next to their teacher, Kakashi Hatake, whose eyes were closed and whose head was turned to the side as if he anticipated what came next, and what came next was not at all pleasant.

Bested from the collision, the men were blasted to the sides of their shared battlefield arena, the Uchiha pounded onto the side of a harsh and shallow ravine while the other skidded without grace onto the soaked edge of a riverbed. Rocks and dust puffed up in response and a splash wet the surface of Naruto's back as blood pooled into the clear, liquid element. He was bleeding profusely, like the red from a palette of watercolor paints had spilled into the rivulet. In fact, they both bled, but one Sakura Haruno had the difficult choice of who to save first.

Who would she save?

Was it Sasuke, her childhood crush and eventual friend?

Was it Naruto, her childhood friend and eventual best friend as they grew older?

And then the answer became clear. Sasuke had betrayed them. She herself had tried to eliminate him so that Naruto would not have to bear that unbearable burden. Who was she to lie when she said in her mind that she didn't care for Sasuke? Of course she cared about him, that is to say, the _old him_.

"Kakashi-sensei," the girl murmured to her former instructor and he immediately understood, gravity-defying silver hair gleaming with the afternoon sun.

"Go Sakura," the man replied and she was off the edge of the ravine and swiftly next to her blond teammate.

When she reached the Uzumaki, who, she might reluctantly add, was barely breathing, she noticed a particularly deep wound close to his heart that bled in trickles of scarlet. She couldn't bear to look at it, at _him_, but the kunoichi continued on and her hand glowed that promising warm green color that meant medical attention had arrived. A hum could be heard, just quietly and progressively, as the injuries attempted to heal. The Kyuubi's ruby chakra tried to help, but there was too much damage to fix him on its own.

Numb, Naruto almost thought he was imagining the tiny ticks of feeling he felt on his face as something wet fell there. What were they?

_Oh. They're tears, _he deliberated within the recesses of his mind.

The blonde's eyes slowly opened, revealing the deep azure they were, and he blinked a few times. "Sakura…you were always quick to cry," the teen said weakly. "Why…why aren't you saving Sasuke?"

The young woman shook her head. "You're more important, Naruto," she muttered shakily as her sobs became more prominent even though she tried to hide them. "You're more important. I care about you both but…I care about _you _more right now. Just _shut up_ _idiot_ and let me heal you. You have to become the Hokage, remember? Lady Tsunade said she chose you as her successor…"

Instead of saying anything back, he didn't bother to reply and sighed with the gentle contact. His guilt gathered within him. He couldn't save his friend. How could he realize his dream of ascending to the position of Hokage? There was no way. No, he couldn't possibly…

Suddenly, a coarse rumbling reverberated through the veins of the earth and in an instant another new enemy appeared wearing a light purple mask, with holes only for his eyes: a red as blood Sharingan of the Uchiha Clan and the rippled iris of the Rinnegan.

The intruder's free arm came crashing down on Sakura's back, but not before Naruto reacted quickly to his reflexes and switched positions with her, even in his weakened state. Madara Uchiha's hand collided and the boy yelled out in agony. He collapsed in a heap on top of Team Seven's only female member, hyperventilating and trembling.

"Naruto Uzumaki," an ominous voice belonging to Madara said, "You have given me more trouble than I had originally anticipated. I will kill you in due time if you don't perish from the injuries you have already accumulated from your fated battle with Sasuke. But for now, I suppose, I'll see you when the moon has finally arisen and the Nine-Tails will be mine."

The legendary founder of Konoha narrowed his gaze and turned toward the fallen Sasuke, who did not stir. The man snatched the fabric of the teenager's tattered clothing and hauled him onto his shoulder, carrying him like the sack of deadweight that he was. Invisible air began to swirl continuously around the spot where Madara's Sharingan eye was located, spinning faster and faster, slowly sucking the two males into a sort of wormhole, but Naruto again acted on reflex and latched his fingers onto one of his most prized possessions that he had received as a gift from Kakashi, and threw it with true aim into the forming space-time whirl.

"Damn," the blond growled, "I've never tried this before but…"

The three-pronged kunai soared through the wind currents and sliced into the opening, Madara's eyes widening in surprise and its seal around its handle activated instantly when the one who threw it said the words that no one in the Land of Fire had thought they would ever hear again.

"HIRAISHIN!"

Sakura tried to stop her wounded friend, but he was too fast. Kakashi did not even have to blink to know what happened. All they saw that followed the statement was a yellow flash and abruptly all three of the fighters were gone, vanished through the now disappearing wormhole.

"Damn him! The Hirasishin! How could he…?"

After drowning out the enemy's holler, images of people and places that were once important to Naruto popped up and faded and dissolved, coming together in a figurative reel. They all emerged in various forms, some as fast as light, like a light bulb, other slow and flowing. Jiraya, Kakashi, Sasuke, Sakura, and his father, his mother, both whom he met through mere chance; they all flashed before his eyes. His life, his dreams, his wishes, his hopes, his emotions coupled the feelings within his heart.

"_Wherever someone thinks of you, _that's_ where home is."_

"_In the ninja world, those who break the rules are trash, that's true, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash."_

"_Naruto… it's too late, nothing you can say will change me! I'm going to kill you and every last person in your beloved village! It's time to make your choice! Kill me and become a hero, or die at my hand and become another one of my victims!"_

"_I… kinda envy your strength, Naruto…" _

"_Naruto… This is your dad. Listen…to your motor-mouth mother."_

"_There are some important words I want to tell, only to the men who compliment my hair… Naruto…will you hear them? _I love you_." _

And then he was back, but he couldn't quite remember. It was as if his life had never happened at all. The images had stopped and he was floating in midair, completely blind and in the dark. His name was Naruto, yes, he knew that, and he had people that he loved and cared about. Then an odd sensation engulfed his chest and for a moment he felt as if he could not quite breathe, but an unknown something released and clicked, a strange drone rippled in his eardrums and exploded in a silent wavelength, subtle turquoise radiance illuminated him like a cloak in the darkness.

His last coherent thought before he forgot it all was that this whole thing was weird. Madara's space-time techniques must have reacted powerfully with the Hiraishin's space-time seal…

His eyes opened and they stared at a crescent moon and an outlandish orange mask, not that he knew exactly what they were; Naruto was a newborn. It was as if his life had never happened, as if it were all just some giant dream or nightmare, a scheme to confuse him and repulse him until everything was gone, like a second's flicker in the night.

ooo

Minato Namikaze glared in disbelief and pure anger at the masked and hooded man before them. The evening outside was suffocating and the sliver of the moon that did show seemed like part of an eye staring back at the world.

"Fourth Hokage…Minato. Back away from the Jinchuuriki, or your son dies at the ripe old age of one minute."

The fair-haired Hokage tried to calm himself. Only seconds ago he cradled his precious baby boy in his arms after resealing the Kyuubi back within his wife. Kushina was resting, but the harsh disturbance had awoken her completely. Her long red hair cascaded to the floor as she realized that Biwako, the Third Hokage's wife was dead on the floor as well as the other midwife. Her husband was up against an opponent who held their literally newborn son as a hostage.

The baby was crying and defenseless. He did not know any better and both parents wanted nothing more than to bring their son to safety, to love him, to comfort him, to relieve him of the stress of danger.

The mysterious masked man threw little Naruto up into the air and a worried father rushed to his rescue, capturing his son, and just when he thought the threat was removed, the cold-hearted villain smirked behind his masquerade, and the father's horror was fulfilled as his breath caught. Paper bombs. _Paper bombs_ were pasted all over his son's swaddling clothes.

In a frantic and desperate need to tear the blankets away from Naruto, Minato slid them off just in the nick of time as the seals exploded behind the two, pushing them farther away from the makeshift delivery room while he collided, gripping his now naked infant son in his arms in an instinctive desire to _protect_, and protect at all costs.

The Fourth heard a deafening scream that made his eardrums ring in horrid terror. He _knew _that yelling.

"Damn it! He separated me from Kushina!" the Namikaze roared as something even more terrifying occurred within the makeshift nursery's walls. A blackish-violet light seeped through its wooden cracks; send jagged lines of violent shades cascading on the grounds and across the ragged surfaces of turned stones. Tiny explosion after tiny explosion reverberated and created puffs of dust upon the earth while the Kyuubi was forcibly released from his wife's childbirth-ridden body.

Minato did not see what happened inside, but all he knew was that he couldn't protect her. _Damn, _he couldn't protect her! Some enemy ninja that was powerful enough to utilize Kushina's vulnerable state to release the Nine-Tails was definitely not good news, and what was he doing here but being helpless as he tried to shield his baby boy from the harmful blasts happening all around them?

The tiny, soft infant began to sob hysterically, obviously and understandably highly distressed.

The father gritted his teeth, shaking in the mere milliseconds it took for the extraction to transpire. He wanted to berate himself. Out of all the shinobi out there, he should be one of the ones that knew this rule the best: A ninja never shows his emotions. It could be considered his downfall, but yet…

He had to pull himself together. His village was in danger now, his _family _was in danger. Minato Namikaze held tight to the position of a kage. He was considered the most powerful in the village. He needed to be strong for Kushina, for _Naruto_. Time was of the essence, and if he was to defeat this new adversary, he had to do it quickly or not at all.

A wave of heat hit Konoha's trees like a shockwave and a red pillar of light burst forth into the sky, shedding an intense pressure on every living thing nearby. In an instant, the building was nonexistent. A rippling growl pierced through the dark, showering the stars in flames and zigzagging tongues of fire until they were completely obscured and they too disappeared as if all hope was lost, and in the distance, the gong of Konoha's clock signaled that the time was well past midnight on the day of October tenth.

A great cloud of smoke popped out of nowhere and suddenly there was a beast lashing its nine tails near the village gates, alarm bells ringing frantically and disparaging cries of agony and gurgles of rapid deaths filled the thick air.

Azure eyes set with determination, the Fourth Hokage stood and rushed into the rubble, relief flooding him as he realized that his wife was still alive, albeit incredibly sore and in pain. He thanked his luck stars that the Uzumaki clan contained members born with a strong enough body to withstand a tailed-beast extraction.

With that thought in mind, Minato spread out a tattered blanket carefully on a rubble-free patch of the ground and gently laid the baby he was holding on it, trying as much as he could to add some cushioning. He lifted Kushina in his arms, squeezed her close to his chest and placed her next to their son while tears streamed down her cheeks in relief of her husband's and offspring's safety, her breathing haggard.

"Kushina," the Fourth breathed out, "I have to go. I have to try to beat the Kyuubi, no matter what. I'll see if I can stop it, even just for a while."

He heard a sob in the background. "M—Minato. Please, _please _be careful. The Kyuubi is dangerous. It can kill you! And the village—"

"—you know what I have to do if I can't hold it back. There's really only one way to defeat a tailed-beast after all. The village is important, but so are you. If I am to keep both my family and my village safe, I have to do everything I can," he cut her off with resolve set in his tone. "The Shiki Fuujin. I'll have to seal it into Naruto, just the Yin half, and the Yang half along with me. Your body can't handle another sealing, I can't seal it into myself, and Naruto has the Uzumaki blood. You'll be alive—"

"—MINATO! You can't! You _can't_! You know what that seal can do to you! You'll die for sure! The payment is your _soul_! What about Konoha, your friends, your family, what about _Naruto_? You can't leave your son without his father!"

Kushina was frantic now, breaths coming in desperate heaves and dry sobs. The tears still trickled and burned at her eyelids, Naruto whimpering at her side as she clutched him protectively.

She practically yelled as she went on, "…and Naruto! To seal the Kyuubi within him? His life will be miserable without you to tell him why you did it! _I _understand, I know there's no other way, but—please—Minato, what are you thinking?" The emotions broke her down and eventually her words became incoherent.

The blond smiled bitterly. "What am I thinking? I'm thinking that I need to protect my family and my village." His eyes set fixedly upon the carnage before them. "I am the Hokage and this is my duty to my home and to my precious people."

His arms slipped into a white cloak, dancing red flames sewn onto its bottom edges and the words for "the fourth fire shadow" also sewn delicately into its back. His spiky hair flittered in the heated breeze, and his forehead protector gleamed ominously with the surrounding fires. At that very moment, Minato Namikaze was not just a father and a husband, but the most powerful ninja in the Fire Country.

"Have a little faith," the man murmured so that if anyone else was around, only his wife could hope to hear him. "He is our son after all."

He carefully placed a three-pronged kunai near the red-head's folded arm, stood up, hair covering his expression, and vanished without a trace into the inferno.

The woman that hailed from the now-nonexistent Whirlpool Country trembled in disbelief. This day, the day that was supposed to be one of the happiest days in both her and her husband's lives, had become a living hell, a damned _nightmare. _How could events turn on them like this? How could the prospect of losing her entire family just after she had gained it loom so ominously like a boulder teetering on the edge of a cliff?

"Naruto," she whispered unfalteringly, her violet orbs glistening, "Can you hear me? _I love you_."

ooo

The Fourth Hokage leapt through the foliage at a swift and desperate pace. His breaths came in short huffs; adrenaline pumping through his veins like someone had injected an excitable drug into his system. He could hear the battle cries of his jounin and chuunin, the decisive blows that his ANBU Black Ops teams threw at the fox's whipping nine tails.

His eyes widened when he spotted the orange-masked man.

_Madara Uchiha. I know it's him, _he thought darkly.

The enemy was controlling the fox. It was obvious only to the Hokage's eyes. The red glare of a swirling Sharingan eye flashed like a light beam of warning through the single hole carved in the mask. The raven-haired man lifted his arms, his back towards the blond, and moved them as if conducted a painfully poetic orchestra, the Kyuubi dancing in their movements and growling and snarling as the "music" that played dreadfully.

Without saying a word, Minato flashed near his opponent, firmly intent on killing him, and forcefully formed a tornado-swirling chakra ball in his right hand with destructive precision and power. His shoved the Rasengan into Madara's exposed shoulder, only for it to phase right through and the Uchiha has disappeared, only to reappear once again somewhere higher up in the trees.

Thinking fast, Minato threw several three-pronged kunai in the direction of the nine-tailed fox and activated his Hirashin technique, watching as the vicious animal flickered and flickered again, quickly moving from its spot near the village to somewhere miles away, but still in sight. After all, with a monster that huge, it was difficult _not _to see it.

"Good," the Fourth scowled in triumph to the remaining threat, "now that he's out of the way for now, I can deal with you next."

"War is a battle with deception, _Fourth Hokage_," Madara spat. "Surely you too are a master of deceiving, that is, if you want to adequately defeat me." The blond could clearly hear the smirk in his voice as Madara went on, "I still control the Nine-Tails, even from this distance."

It was now the Hokage's turn to smile. "Then I'm afraid I'll have to reaffirm your statement, _Madara Uchiha—_" His gaze narrowed. "—and yes I know exactly who you are. Only a member of the esteemed Uchiha Clan can control a tailed-beast, and the only one that was even known to be able to do it was you—I'll reaffirm my knowledge then. I _am_ a master of deception. I took the Kyuubi out of your control as soon as my Rasengan touched you. Why, you believe it didn't? It grazed you."

On a second glance, the black-haired man realized that he was right. A slight scrape itched at his shoulder and a tiny trickle of blood streamed down, stained his already dark clothes even darker. His thoughts wandered to his loss of the Kyuubi's control. If he lost control now, his plans were effectively ruined. He could not hope to get a beast of such magnitude and caliber under his iron fist once it was vigorously shoved out from underneath him. The time was right for a retreat. He could grudgingly admit to the Fourth's overall power. He would be more than a handful, even for a skilled ninja such as he, who had fought against the First Hokage.

But, nevertheless, the tailed-beast was on the loose. Even if he probably could not carry out his entire plan, he could still assist the thing in haphazardly destroying part of his former home, the very Leaf Village Madara had helped to build.

"Fourth," the man sneered, "I can acknowledge your prowess. You should take that as a compliment, but not for long. I'll kill everyone that I can, _anyone _that you hold dear," and he dissolved into nothingness, screams splicing in gurgles and chokes in the backdrop.

One scream in particular, though, froze the leader of the Hidden Leaf in his tracks.

_Kushina! Naruto!_

And the man zipped away in a yellow flash, holding true to his battlefield nickname. As he arrived, just in time, he might add, his eyes were set on his wife, clutching their baby gently underneath her, her back bleeding in a (thankfully), not so deep gash. The newborn had awoken from his brief slumber and wailed a heartbreaking wail.

Minato's instincts took over, glimpsing the three-pronged kunai near his family, and flashed right next to them. He swiped multiple shuriken from his sleeves. Each one almost hitting their target and embedding themselves into the dust covered earth as they passed through the Uchiha.

He crossed his hands into a familiar hand-seal and shouted, "Multi-Shadow Clone technique!" while about five other copies of himself "poofed" into existence, each wielding two Rasengan in each hand while they flashed quickly around the clearing, each trying to catch Madara while the real Minato Namikaze gathered up his wife and child in his strong arms, and flickered away.

The small family appeared half a mile away from the thrashing Kyuubi, hidden behind the leaves of the meadows around their home. The father's façade was set. He had to do this. There was no other way to defeat the demon. While the real enemy was kept at bay, he needed to perform the sealing technique before they garnered his interference…and fast.

He leaned his wife, who was still gripping onto their child and who had passed out from extreme exhaustion and stress, on the bark of a charred tree trunk. Bust just as he did so, an ANBU had shimmered into subsistence directly behind him.

"Dog," the blond said softly, stare not tearing away from his whimpering child. "State your report then."

The masked ANBU dubbed as "dog", that wore a while canine-shaped mask with red stripes painted on to symbolize whiskers, nodded.

"Lord Hokage," he said unfazed, "our forces were cut in half. Many of our jounin teams are down and the ANBU have kept the younger ones on the sidelines…" He hesitated, "…including me. Many have died or are severely injured. I was sent to report, and _only _to report," and then the boy's voice broke.

"…Minato-sensei! Please! Let me fight! So many are _dying_, getting _killed_! I—I can't just sit there and do nothing! I can help you! _Please_, I—"

The Hokage sighed, suddenly feeling very old. "Kakashi…it's good they held all of you back. We can't afford to lose any of you." He paused, partially trying to ignore his breaking resolve, "You're one of the few that know about my son, about Naruto. You also know what it takes to defeat any tailed beast…there is no true way, but there is a way to subdue them nonetheless."

Take care of yourself. Take care of my son, of my wife, of my family. I'm sorry, I truly am, but there's nothing else I can do. I wish Naruto to be seen as a hero, and, even if that seems impossible in light of what's going on right now and what I am about to do, I want him to know that I love him. And you, Kakashi…Dog…live well and know that I would always welcome you into my home. Fight hard and remember what you have learned. 'A shinobi that does not follow the rules is trash, but a shinobi that does not care for his comrades is even lower than trash…'"

The silence that followed was unbearable. The silver-haired Hatake bowed his head in defeat, mask sliding slightly as his did so.

"So," the teenage boy murmured, but he was well aware that his teacher could hear him, "It's come down to _that_, huh? I'll lose you to? After Obito and Rin and my father? I don't want to lose my teacher…not you too…"

The boy felt a hand land reassuringly on his shoulder as Minato finally tore his eyes away from his son. A sad smile graced his lips and a strange and unreadable emotion encompassed his features. Kakashi had never seen anyone look so _mixed _and _hurt _before. At the moment, there were no words that needed to be spoken between teacher and student, it was only a quiet few seconds, but meaningful for the both of them.

And then, Minato vanished without the Hatake even noticing it. The baby was gone and Kushina was alone, sleeping near the only leafless tree in the clearing, the fox growling somewhere in the distance, and the young boy became a young man.

He squared his shoulders and contacted the Third Hokage via his mask's embedded communication device, and leapt after his teacher.

The radio buzzed outside the village's crumbling walls and the shinobi were in an uproar upon the news that they had just recently received.

"Damn it! Damn it all! The Fourth is going to sacrifice himself!"

"That bastard Nine-Tails! We can't let that thing take our Hokage's life! What do we _do_? Third! We need your help! We can't let the Fourth do this!"

An aged man and a fighter who was clearly beyond his years, nodded. "Yes. We cannot allow Minato to sacrifice himself like this, not without our consent. Let's head out to the coordinates Dog has informed us about."

ooo

The Namikaze held onto his son tightly, eyes almost completely devoid of emotion—_a shinobi never shows his tears_—and bellowed, carefully and rapidly forming hand-seals while still holding onto Naruto, "Summoning Technique!"

A tumble of clouds and smoke billowed around his flame-tipped cloak and the wind had somehow become colder, despite the fact that the flames of hatred were licking the soil around the giant red fox. A colossal crimson-orange toad appeared beneath him, smoking a long, wooden pipe, and a dark cloak of its own flying with the winds.

It gasped, taking in the sight before him. "Minato, what have you gotten yourself into this time? That's the Nine-Tailed Fox!"

The Fourth ignored the comment. "Boss Toad, I need your help…and this will be the last time…" The Boss's head perked up at that comment and narrowed his slimy yellow eyeballs.

We need to seal the Kyuubi into my son. In order to do that, I need your help in weakening the fox. Your size and the demon's are more-or-less the same, while mine is not. I'm going to seal half of the demon's chakra into Naruto and the other half will be sealed along with me, into the Shinigami's stomach. You understand what this means, don't you? Tell Jiraya-sensei that I'm sorry."

The toad grunted in comprehension, a grim tone taking the place of a once surprised one. "Well then, if there's no other way…it has been an honor to fight alongside you, Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze…"

A fierce battle had begun, one that even the previous leaders of Konoha had never experienced before. Clash after clash, technique after technique, hit each other with such force that the surrounding forest had all but dissipated and burned into a black mesh of ashes.

A barrier had suddenly been erected around the battle scene, blocking the Fourth Hokage from the outside world, minus the fox, and a frustrated silver-haired ANBU yelled in agony when he resigned to the fact that he _could not assist his teacher at all_. People gathered around the barrier and stood, transfixed, awed, and utterly _devastated _when they had come too late. Their leader, their friend, was battling to the death, and they all knew it. The thought pierced each and every one of them in the heart like an unbeatable poison, burning at their throats like an unquenchable thirst.

They could do nothing, not even their previous kage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third.

But, they could hear the battle cries within.

"Dead Demon Consuming Se—" Minato was cut off as, somehow, the orange-masked adversary had managed to enter the clearing, and just as he was about to complete his technique. The blond jumped out of the way just as the Uchiha tried to land a knee on him.

"I won't allow you to ruin my plans further, _Lord Hokage_!" the man roared. "I still need this beast later! I won't let you seal it into your _precious baby boy_."

Minato flashed out of range, nearer to the fox, and placed Naruto onto the ceremonial alter, which he had at least managed to create before being rudely interrupted. He shoved a fist onto the ground, exploding the chakra around his fingertips and releasing it in a powerful gale of dust and rock, obscuring his enemy and allotting him a few seconds in time, but it was enough.

"Alright then," the Fourth muttered to himself, observing how Boss Toad sliced his sword in the direction of the fox, keeping it distracted, "It's time."

He gazed lovingly at his one and only son, his battle hardened face masked with a bittersweet expression and performed the hand-seals yet again.

_Snake. Boar. Ram. Rabbit. Dog. Rat. Bird. Horse. Snake. _He was about to clap his hands once, the last and final piece of the seal, when something strange occurred. He halted, yet again, about to yell out the name of his sealing technique, when he heard a bizarre and agonizing strangling noise. It was a human near him and it was a grown man.

The dust cloud oddly twirled and suddenly the masked man was there in the midst of it all, his eye sucking in the debris, but it looked like he was struggling himself.

"No! _No_! Damn you Naruto Uzumaki! I've remembered what happened! This is an alternate timeline created because of my space-time and your space-time…! It's all your fault! If you hadn't thrown that Hiraishin, it wouldn't be sending me to another dimension…! You've ruined my Moon's Eye Plan! _I'll get you_! I'll get you for this…! Naruto…Uzumaki…!" Madara was shakily howling now, his words incomprehensible to the father. All he heard was a dying man, and a dying enemy was indeed a good thing. And the orange mask twisted in and on itself, the rest of the Uchiha's body crookedly following after it, tumbling and whirling and he evaporated in a circular _pop_.

Another blinding light, one that crackled across the sky in the form of lightning strikes, sizzled in a circle around the father and son, the Boss Toad having dissolved in a puff of gray smoke and shouting a protest, the beast lashing one last tail out that made an attempt to bleed a hole through its perspective new host, and the father dashing with his second wind to body-shield the baby…

Just as the tail touched Minato's back, he thought it was all over. His life flashed before his eyes: Kushina, Naruto, Konoha…He did not even get to finish sealing the fox inside his own son. He would die a shameful death to the eyes of some of the citizens. He would die protecting his son and not the village. He would die and the fox would not be subdued. He would die and Konoha would be destroyed and the ultimatum would be that the very son he had tried to save would die as well, all because of the fox…

Stark white lightning struck around them in a perfect circle, the air howling and fires going out in collective wisps. The Kyuubi's tail halted in its decent, and the monster itself released a pained howl of its own. It shrunk in size and condensed into a liquid-looking tendril of a blur, which unwillingly dove straight into a crying Naruto Namikaze's stomach, the Dead Demon Consuming Seal somehow painted there in black ink even though not fully performed, and directly into the center. The baby glowed in an ethereal light and the lightning hissed and whipped its way back up into the sky, not even leaving a charred circle to verify its existence.

The ceremonial pedestal which cradled the infant Naruto sunk into the earth and Minato caught his son just in time and his arms pillowed the soft baby's fall while the elder man stared in awe at the complicated seal that he was supposed to create. How it got there without completion, Minato would never know.

He gasped out in pain as a strange pressure sat over his chest. He did not know what it was, but it hurt and it oddly felt as if he had felt this pressure before, as if his soul had been taken out but then again, he was still alive, so _why_…? Then, as his hazy eyes stared at his wailing son, his eyelids shut and his world turned black.

The invisible barrier around the makeshift battlefield dissipated.

"_Hokage-sama!"_

"_Lord Hokage!"_

"_Fourth!"_

"_MINATO!"_

"_MINATO-SENSEI!"_

"_C'mon! We have to get him to the infirmary! Quickly! His pulse is barely there! And the baby! He was protecting him! Put the baby in the nursery! He's under major stress!"_

"_NARUTO! MINATO! Damn it! Please be okay, _both_ of you! If you're not…please…!"_

Minato awoke to a dull ceiling. Heart monitors beeped nearby and he moaned, sitting up in his hospital bed. His back and chest felt like hell. His throat was parched and he felt small ticks of needles stuck into his wrist. He sighed. What had happened? Where was he? Where was Kushina? Where was…

His eyes widened. "…Naruto!" he gasped out, filching when he upset an aching shoulder blade.

"Ah! He's awake!" He heard a nurse call out. Footsteps resounded on the tiled hospital floor. But, faster than that, another frantic set of feet had reached him first, and so did a hard punch in the gut.

"Minato! You idiot! I thought that you…I thought that…" It was the voice of his wife. She was angry. _Furious_, was probably a better term, and did he know it. Trembling sniffles wracked his bedside, and he looked into her watery violet eyes, observing her gorgeous red hair as it cascaded near his face.

"Don't do that ever again," she mumbled. "I don't want to lose you."

The Fourth Hokage's eyes softened, not even noticing the nurse that stayed respectfully behind the married couple in their heartfelt moment. "Ah…Kushina…"

She smiled at her husband. "…It's okay. I can forgive you for now. I think a punch is alright for the time being. You've been out for two days after all. The village and everyone were in a wreck…" She steadied herself and he abruptly took notice of the whining bundle in her arms. "You asked about Naruto? He's here…"

Minato looked at their son, then at his wife, a silent question hanging in the air.

The mother chuckled gently, answering the question with a gesture that he was grateful for. She handed him the child and watched warmly as the father took his son into his arms, cushioning the baby's head while the infant whimpered and sniffled.

He was beautiful. He was absolutely and breathtakingly beautiful. Naruto's skin was soft to the touch; strikingly smooth, strikingly flawless save for the three whisker-like markings on each cheek. Sapphire irises (though still slightly glazed from childbirth), just like his father's, brimmed with tears and the baby cried and cried and cried. Innocence shone through the tiny new life. Hope and joy sparkled like the sunlight, a shimmer represented through his golden tufts of sprouting hair.

"Shh," Minato hushed the boy, holding a gentle finger over his nose as he cradled the infant in his arms. "It's okay, Naruto. Daddy's here. Daddy will keep you safe from harm. I promise I won't let anything happen to you."

Naruto's frenzied cries had halted when his tiny ears picked up his daddy's gratifying voice. Gurgling began and a smile formed on the baby's lips, little fists clutching at nothing but curled in close to his miniature chest as his father continued to coo at him. The door to the hospital room opened unexpectedly, but the man did not notice.

"Lord Ho…ka…ge…I hear you're awake…?" An ANBU Black Ops agent with a cat mask on came in, her dark indigo hair swishing behind her as she stopped moving at the entranceway. The sight had startled her and her speech slowed tremendously. "Uh…Hoka…ge…"

The Fourth smiled gently to his son, unaware and utterly oblivious of the agent that had walked into his hospital room. "Daddy's here. It's okay. It's _okay_. Daddy loves you, Naruto."

The masked woman sighed, the motherly aspect of her surfacing too fast. "Ah, I'll just return later Lord Hokage…" And she left, gently shutting the door behind her. It would be only moments later that the whole of the ANBU team, not to mention most of Konoha, heard about the state their beloved leader was found in. The most powerful ninja in the Hidden Leaf Village, the Yellow Flash, hero of the Third Great Shinobi World War, and a cold-blooded killer, reduced to a cooing father in the clutches of his own infant son.

**AN: The end of chapter one. I feel very inspired to write this story, so expect at least weekly updates. It won't be very long, most likely less than ten chapters, but definitely more than three. **

**For those of you reading Dog of the Military, my **_**Fullmetal Alchemist **_**fanfiction, don't fret. I have not given up on it, mostly because I simply cannot abandon a story that I have entirely planned out. I've just been on a Naruto ruse lately and no one seems all that interested in DotM, even though I am.**


	2. Flowers that Replaced Cherry Blossoms

**AN: I'm a little hesitant with using Japanese terms in stories, especially since I'm not natively Japanese, but I'm natively Filipino. But, it's quite difficult to **_**not **_**use these terms, especially in a world such as Naruto. I'm sure you all would understand. Also, please try to give me some leeway with some of the inconsistencies. Someone pointed out that Yugao would not technically be an ANBU yet as of last chapter, but I ask you to please suspend your imagination. There's always a lot going on in the Naruto-verse and I don't think I'm adequately versed in it yet. **

**I appreciate all of your suggestions and I do appreciate it when you point out problems.**

**For future reference: "Meinichi" means "Death Anniversary" and "ryo" is the currency in the Naruto world, which is based on the currency used in Japan before the Meiji period. **

**Also, I'm sorry in advance for any mistakes. I do not have anyone who betas for me.**

**Chapter Two:  
>The Flowers that Replaced Cherry Blossoms<strong>

"_They say that it's a mother's job to nurture and a father's job to protect, but what is forgotten is that the offspring often has a job that both parents cannot seem to remember…"_

* * *

><p>His tails lashed out and fire burned, consuming everything, absolutely <em>everything<em>. Fire, fire like none other he had felt before licked and shredded at his skin. Globules of red blood floated before him, an eerily stunning sight to behold.

They were all dead, all of them, and weren't they beautiful? Everyone was struggling, moving, wheezing for the air they could no longer have. Limbs were torn apart, bodies askew, knives and weapons flying but never reaching him, the triad of an ironically poetic song of the deepest evil. His fur was resilient, tendrils of red and seething chakra extending from it and consuming whatever was in sight. Ashes were in the air and there were coughing humans, pitiful humans…

The scenery changed and he heard a gentle yet firm voice. "Have a little faith. He is our son after all."

Then a pain so haunting and excruciating clenched at his gut, devouring all of what seemed like peace. There was none he could turn to, no one at all. A white-hot sensation pinched at his stomach, tearing at it, making it _hurt _like the bottomless pit of hell had embodied itself as the boy, consuming him, eating him alive until he was skin and bones with no innards left…

A strange boy, a young one with raven black hair stood nearby staring somewhere off into the distance, looking away from him as he writhed on the ground, besieged to stay alive.

"…I don't have any dreams," the mysterious intruder muttered ominously, "but rather an ambition to kill a certain man and avenge my clan…"

_Avenge._

_Revenge._

"Vengeance! What a sour, smoldering, word!" another man shouted, obviously proud and wearing an orange mask. "Take it, Uchiha! Use it to kill! Use it to become what you were meant to be! Kill him! Destroy your best friend! Bonds will only weaken those who are already weak, weaken the already strong! They're useless! He is of no use to you anymore! Become the avenger of the great Uchiha Clan!"

"Yes…I will kill them all…"

"_Chidori!_"

Just as the fair-haired, hurting figure upon the floor was about to surrender to a flickering and overwhelming amount of power, one made of visible lightning that would surely pierce his heart beyond repair, he screamed and yelled and begged. He couldn't go like that! Not to his best friend! He thought they were friends! What about…what about…?

A four-year-old Naruto Namikaze shot up in his bed, yelling bloody murder. The blond was panting, sweat drenched his face and chest, his night shirt was soaked and tears streamed down his cherubic cheeks. The child shivered, grasping desperately at his blankets, the cooling sweat making him feel cold. A creak on his bed startled him, but he ignored it in favor of attempting to calm his sobbing.

"…bad dream, Naru-chan?"

The little boy gasped in surprise. Hovering over him with his mask _still _pulled over more than half of his face and silver hair shining in the moonlight was Kakashi.

"Kaka-nii?" the blond mumbled, sniffling.

The eighteen-year-old jounin did not answer. Instead, he nodded and he wordlessly opened his arms to the child, willing the blond to cuddle into his arms. Normally, this scene would be downright taboo and utterly rare, but Kakashi figured that it couldn't hurt. The room was dark and there was no one else around to see him succumb to his protective instincts.

He was like an older brother to his teacher's son, especially since Naruto would never have a sibling. It was too dangerous to have another child as Kushina herself had deemed. Besides, the mother was not even sure if her body would be able to handle holding another life within her after all the stress she had to endure when giving birth to her only child. For all they knew, the Kyuubi could have damaged something within her that would not allow her to give birth again. Minato had no choice but to wholeheartedly agree.

"I was a big monster. I hurt everyone…I hurt my friend…and everything was _scary_," the tiny boy murmured into the Hatake's black nightshirt and the older male could feel the fabric beginning to soak with wet. "_I _was _scary…_and _bad_. Kaka-nii, I—I'm scared!"

Kakashi sighed. As soon as he had heard Naruto wailing into the night, he had run straight to his room. Perhaps it was a lucky choice that he had fallen asleep on his teacher's couch again and was subsequently ignored after the fact, besides that blanket that he was sure a certain red-head had placed upon his sleeping form.

The dream was predictable, but he was sure that it was no less than terrifying, especially for a four-year-old toddler such as Naruto. _Damn_, the whole thing was ironic. What a fantastic way to begin a fourth birthday: dream about the moments your home was practically destroyed and blood flew as frequently as the breeze.

_Damn,_ October tenth. What a day that was, four years ago to the moment. What a _damn perfect _day for the Hokage's child to be born into the world, immediately have his life threatened, have a _damn demon fox _sealed into him, and almost have his parents killed on the day that he just got them.

_Naruto would've been ridiculed and shunned had the people not known the Fourth was his father_, the silver-haired jounin mused, _Imagine what it would have been like if they weren't convinced the kid was a hero._

He held the boy close to his chest, determined to somehow will him to stop crying. Sobs wracked through the fox container's body, unrelenting and promising a very long round of sadness and heartache. After all, this happened every year so far, ever since the boy could utter a single word when he turned two. He supposed that it was to be expected, but he could not kid himself. Kakashi had hoped, even if it was just a minute sliver of hope, that little Naruto would begin his birthday on a happy note.

_Damn. What a birthday…_

ooo

Lights flashed brightly outside, sparklers gleamed in reds, yellows, and oranges. Yet, as joyous as the atmosphere seemed to be, there was an underlying texture of despair. All around them, people and their families gathered round, periodically making their way into both the civilian and shinobi burial grounds and grave sites. Many were somber, others looked like they were _trying _to be cheerful, and yet the ambiance was confusing. There was a conflicting mix of happy and sad, smiles and tears, black and white, light and dark.

Yellow and white chrysanthemums decorated the streets and cobblestones of Konoha while some danced and glided down from the air. Children and adults alike captured a flower in the palm of their hands, pulling them free from their stems, and released them from the tops of their roofs or from their balconies. The perennials floated gracefully to the ground, and harmlessly landed atop sidewalks, streetlamps, and wherever else the air would guide them to.

The practice had become a tradition. Because of the encroaching season of autumn, the cherry blossom trees would not bloom. So in order to breakdown the barrier, the citizens of the Hidden Leaf began letting chrysanthemums loose. Even though the falling flowers and petals was a beautiful site, it was also heartbreaking. Chrysanthemums were the flowers used for sad occasions, losses, placing on top of tombstones and graves. While the yellow variety symbolized a feeling that was deeply respectful and little love, white meant sincerity and truth. They were sad flowers, ones to replace the symbolism of falling cherry blossoms, which represented the heroic fall of warriors.

In essence, the cherry blossoms couldn't fall, so the people made other flowers fall for them. It was a perfect ritual for this day and swirls of white and yellow petals caressed cheeks, brushed through hair, the everlasting symbols for sorrow but tears within the truth of loss.

The day was October tenth, the day the Kyuubi attacked, the day many lost their lives, and the day when the Fourth Hokage had sealed the beast within this newborn son. The people were happy that the monster was defeated of course, and honored their heroes and fallen fighters with a celebration, but also counted their losses. So, like the previous three October tenths, a festival was going on amidst the melancholy.

The Fourth had never given the direct go-ahead to start the traditions of the annual happenings of this particular day, but the shinobi and civilians had somehow gathered up the notion that _something _needed to occur, so they started it themselves and their beloved leader was dragged into it.

Speaking of being "dragged into it", the reigning Hokage groaned inwardly as yet another villager had come to him, asking him to _please _give a speech regarding the ceremonies. After trying to step around the requests for the twenty-seventh time, he couldn't take it anymore. It was time to gain a grudging acceptance from the wife.

"Ah," Minato grimaced; quickly glancing at the happy ball of sunshine he called his son that clutched the hand of his fiery spouse, and then looked back up to her. "Kushina, I think I should, maybe…well…" He hesitated at her glare. "…it's not my fault! They keep asking! I'm their Hokage! What should I do?"

The Uzumaki woman pouted, a shimmering glint in her now narrowing eyes. "Idiot! Geez, you're so flaky! How are you the genius of our generation again? _You're _the Hokage! Why are you asking _me_?"

"Because you're my wife! Aren't you supposed to be the boss of the house or something? Naruto and I are constantly under your radar! You know?" He gestured with his hands, wiggling his fingers and earning odd stares in his general direction. "Alpha woman? Hear you roar?"

He earned a particularly evil glower at that comment. Minato chuckled nervously and added, "…or something like that…?"

Kushina rolled her eyes, currently ignoring their son's curious wide-eyed gaze while he blinked at his bickering parents. "Ugh. Fine. Go. It's getting annoying that they keep asking anyway. Go do your 'Hokage business' for an hour or two while Naru and I go explore the festivities. We already got the sad part out of the way and visited the graves as a family, so we're going to make the best out of his birthday."

A thoughtful expression crossed her face. "Meet back up at Ichiraku's then? I'm craving some salt ramen and I know Naru loves miso ramen."

"Ah, okay, but—" her husband began to say before he was rudely cut off.

"And no 'buts', Minato! I know you like my homemade meals and all, but Naru's favorite is ramen, and frankly, so is mine. It's our son's fourth birthday! Lighten up! I'll cook you a meal tomorrow, got that, Yellow _Flake_?"

The Yellow Flash's head dropped and he groaned out loud this time. There were mysterious snickers from the surrounding villagers. He was so going to regret this. What he give for a more complacent partner sometimes. Kushina could be such a _strong _woman at times, it was intoxicating. But, perhaps that's why he loved her. His reputation as one of the strongest shinobi of his time could be overwhelming if she did not keep him in check. He supposed that fact was alright. Though, he did wish that their banter did not have to be so public. Didn't he have reputation to uphold? Apparently not.

With that happy thought, the blue-eyed father turned and left, but not without tousling Naruto's blond locks and giving a nervous smile to his wife. He'd have to entertain the crowd for a while and while he did cherish his duty as leader of the village, he still wished that he could spend some more time with his family on his child's birthday.

The red-head smirked at her son whose blue eyes were wide and twinkling, his lips forming into something akin to innocent and instant curiosity. She gently tugged on Naruto's plush hand, willing him to come along and follow mother.

"Ne, Naru-chan, where do you want to go first?" Kushina asked the boy walking beside her.

The four-year-old blinked, tilting his head up and replied, "Hmm…mommy, can we go catch fishies? I'll get one for Kaka-nii and daddy b'cause they're doing important stuff!"

Laughing out loud, Kushina nodded in response to her son's request and the two of them headed down the row of colorful stalls. The late afternoon sun placed odd shadows on each of the booths, following bouncing children of every age and casting silhouettes of dangling painted masks that hung by the nail from one vendor's booth in particular. This caught the miniature blonde's attention.

"Ah, ah," he said halting his mother gait, "Mommy, look 'ver there! Can we get one, _please_?" He pointed a small, chubby finger at the stall with the handcrafted masks and Kushina sighed, Well, it was his birthday after all. She could give in this once. A festival was supposed to be fun anyway.

"Okay, Naru. Which one do you like?" She asked as mother and son walked up to the booth's host. He was an old man with graying hair, a sharp, pointed nose, and a strangely elongated mustache with square glasses tipped off on the ride of his nose. His back was hunched over and if it weren't for the kind grin on his face, one would think him quite intimidating.

Naruto released his mother's hand and 'hmm-ed' before reaching out and trying to appear taller by rising to his tip-toes, attempting to grab hold of a fox mask that was predominantly higher up than all the other masks. At his antics and at the fact that the mask this little boy had chosen just had to be depicting a _fox_, both the vendor and Kushina chuckled.

"Alright lad," the old man said, touching his fingers to the edge of the fox mask and lifting it up off its hook, "There. You can have this one then. It's a beauty. My daughter made it herself. Took her days to get to what she deemed 'the right kind'. Though, I don't know how she does it.

"Enjoy it, boy. I'm giving this one to you for free. It's your birthday, isn't it, little one? And it's also Fox Festival Day _and _Meinichi. Some day you must be having every year. One pretty mask is just a little of our appreciation for what you're doing for us and what you're holding back. I know _I_ appreciate it. I know my wife would. It isn't your fault anyway. You were just a baby…"

Kushina raised an eyebrow. "You know we're not supposed to tell him exactly _what _he's holding back yet until he's a few years older. He won't understand."

"Ah, yes, my Lady. Sorry about that. Little Naru's just a ball of sunshine is all. I really appreciate it, really do," the man smiled, aging eyes never leaving the child's face as he looked in awe at the free gift he had received and not really paying attention to the conversation.

The two adults nodded to each other and the Hokage's wife walked away with her son in tow, mask still in his grip and her motherly hand wrapped around his shoulders as she guided him. She noticed how Naruto grinned when an Uchiha ran past them, holding the hand of his older brother who was trying desperately to keep up. She noted that his name was Sasuke.

"See you at the fi'works Sasuke!" The Namikaze shouted at the raven who responded with, "See ya later Naruto!" and they kept their pace onward after the pause.

Mother and son halted again in front of a stall, this time, being their original destination in which people stooped low near plastic tubs of water and scooped up goldfish into a smaller plastic tub with a paper net for a few ryo.

Kushina handed two ryo to the vendor and her and her son stooped before a tub, paper nets in hand along with a plastic container. Both of them unwittingly giggled in delight, excitement engulfing their auras, and immediately got to work, much to the bewilderment of the stall owner.

"Mmk, mommy," Naruto said very seriously, which amused the older red-head. "We need to catch three fishies," he continued, holding up three fingers and counting off three people as he used his other hand to carefully point to a single finger each, "One for mommy, one for daddy, and one for Kaka-nii. So, mommy, you need to get fishies to help me!"

"Alright Naru. How about one for you?"

He shook his head vigorously. "Nuh-uh! I already have Mr. Fox Mask, remember?"

Blinking at the odd response, Kushina merely chuckled and bent over her part of the tub, sticking her paper net into the water and hoping that the moisture would not break a hole through too soon before she managed to catch at least one goldfish. She observed how the blond boy's tongue stuck out cutely from behind his lips as he furrowed his light little brows in absolute concentration. He jumped up unpredictably when a splash of water hit his cheek, effectively leaving part of his face wet. The mother couldn't help but make her smile wider at that.

She observed her current "enemies" swimming before her, concentration also appearing quite obviously upon her façade. As the late afternoon easily transformed into early evening, the sparklers that children swayed around on the cobblestoned and paved streets reflected off the pool, flickering and popping as sparks flew in numerous shades and hues. Ripples formed upon the water, the fish reacting to the stabbing and erratic motions that the two humans were projecting towards their prey, prodding their paper, round, nets as a disturbance in hopes of catching a few of the goldfishes' brethren.

An energized squeal sounded beside her as Naruto revealed that he had captured his first fish and placed it into his plastic container filled with water. A few seconds later, Kushina herself made an identical sound when she caught one of the swimming creatures and earned a silent, but nonetheless exasperated sighs from the adults surrounding them.

A few minutes afterwards, both she and Naruto shouted exuberantly at the same exact moment when they both lifted their nets in unison in crouched stances of triumph. They had both caught a goldfish at the same time.

"Well Naru," the mother said while out of breath, "Looks like we caught four fish after all. I guess that means that you have to get one too!"

"Aw, but mommy…!"

She shook her head once in a gesture that clearly meant 'no'. "Not 'buts'! You're just like your father! Believe that! We both caught the fish and I paid for the nets, therefore it's a fact that I win this round!" She grinned and yelled proudly to a pouting son, "Hah! I win!"

The two were found just moments later, carrying two clear bags of water, two golden fish twirling and swimming around in each. Their tails flicked around the liquid as if it were nothing.

They soon stopped in front of a lottery stall in which involved manually rotating the handle to a ball made up of light strips of metal that were arranged so that it appeared to be made out of netting with square holes. A closed hatch indicated a miniature door built on it. Inside were folded pieces of paper and if you chose the right one, you could get one of the prizes sitting behind the counter which consisted of a myriad of items including a signed copy of the first book in Jiraya of the Sannin's _Icha Icha _Series, a drawing by a famous Konoha artist, stuffed plush toys, a box of rare wasabi-flavored pork rinds (possibly donated by the Akamichi Clan), and a fluffy green frog wallet. The latter caught the attention of Kushina, so she made for the booth, Naruto attached to her hip as he followed along.

She smirked, handed over a couple of coins to a confused woman, and with a determined sparkle in her eye, placed a firm grip upon the lottery contraption's handle and spun it like there was no tomorrow. The papers inside were out of control and she growled in heated frustration after a thin wisp of smoke started to curl into existence on the handle. If it was even possible, the overexcited Uzumaki was somehow making a lottery ball overheat.

She let the handle go, watching as the ball rolled of its perch upon the table and onto the floor, tiny door hatch cracking open and a roll of paper pouncing out. Biting her lip and ignoring the numerous raised eyebrows, the kunoichi bent downward and picked up the paper, unraveling it, and squinted her violet irises, reading the number written in black ink.

With a force unknown to normal man, she thrust her retrieval to the stall owner. "Three. It says three. Give me prize three."

"Ah," the frazzled owner grimaced, "Lady Namikaze, could you…um…please pick up the—"

"Prize three! That's the frog wallet! Please give it to me!"

The poor old woman scrambled from her stool instantaneously and grabbed the green frog, reluctantly handing it to the crazed mother. She nodded towards the fallen contraption and asked her again to _please _pick it up and replace it back onto the stand, to which came the reply, "Why didn't you ask me to before? Of course I'll do that for you! Silly woman!" and the owner sighed. Well, the Hokage's wife was definitely a direct contrast to the village leader himself, that was for sure.

Grinning like a maniac and practically skipping with her son alongside her, the two Namikazes were off yet again to wreck havoc upon the festivities. Though perhaps it was just Kushina herself? In the son's arms was yet another winning of the day: the childish frog wallet that he had named "Gama-chan". One way or another, Kushina had managed to get her child a birthday gift without outwardly telling him that she did so. She knew it would upset him if he acquired too much. He was never one to act spoiled.

The mother realized that night was fast approaching. It had already been past the two hour curfew she had given her husband. Minato was never one to be late, so she supposed that it was best for the two of them to head over to Ichiraku's before he latched onto his overprotective side and decided that it was the proper time to start a village-wide search for his family.

Pushing back the short curtains of the outdoor restaurant and parking her son on top of a wooden stool, Minato moaned.

"There you are!" he said, waving his arms in the air. "I was getting worried! I was about to get out of here and start a village-wide search for you!"

Kushina held back the urge to roll her eyeballs. "Of course you were," she replied, making sure that their child did not lose his balance. "We got a little sidetracked at the lottery booth." Then, she leaned over to her husband and whispered, "I won Naru a frog wallet. He absolutely refuses a proper birthday present, so I did it the discreet way."

The Fourth's mouth twitched and whispered back into his wife's ear. "Discreet? '_Discreet,'_ as in bellowing for 'prize three' and knocking off a poor citizen's lottery ball? I heard about that from some of the villagers when I was walking over here."

"Ugh. Shut up. You're so infuriating. Just order some ramen already."

"Dear, there's three bowls of salt ramen already prepared and in front of you. Naruto's eating his miso ramen."

As if caught completely off guard, she blinked and swiveled in her seat to stare openmouthed at her already eating son. Needless to say, half the noodles and soup were gone already. She huffed and shoved her chopsticks into the porcelain bowl in front of her and devoured the food angrily, much to the enjoyment of the Hokage, the other two customers sitting at the ramen stand, and along with Teuchi, the vendor.

After sipping the remnants of the residual soup within their bowls, the Namikazes were out of the outdoor restaurant, leaving space for new potential customers. They said, "Thank you for the food," to the cook and that they hoped to see them when the fireworks started in thirty minutes. Minato carried his son out, who was resting his head on his father's chest and clasping onto Gama-chan, his bag of goldfish held by his mother.

Naruto beamed toothily at his father and said, "Daddy, me and mommy got you and Kaka-nii fishies! Do you like them?"

Minato chuckled. "Of course I do, son! How could I not?"

Instead of answering, the fox's container snuggled closer into his father's protective grasp, closing his azure eyes and totally emanating an impression of happiness. His chubby cheeks, still not quite devoid of baby fat, squished into the older blond's dark green jounin vest. A childish smile seemed to never leave his face as he murmured, "I love you, daddy, and mommy too…"

Upon hearing the statement, the Fourth couldn't stop smiling stupidly at everything around him. His wife noticed and laughed to herself, relishing in the fact that their little boy could do something like this to the great prodigy of their village.

The evening air turned colder and more crisp, attuning to the expected autumn chill in October. The chrysanthemums and their respective yellow and white petals were lifted to the gentle, caressing, wind currents, and the festival lights sputtered on, tangles and strings of light bulbs appearing like stars that had landed upon the earth. The sparklers that children decidedly played with were even more prominent now and parents chased after them, trying to round everyone up for the fireworks showing that would soon appear above the crimson Hokage Tower.

Fold up chairs for the elderly were being carefully arranged before the building, lined up in rows, and ANBU standing at the corners nearest to the Tower in order to keep watch. Other civilians and shinobi alike had spread out quilts and blankets on the nearby grassy hills and others were standing in the background, some fathers holding up their kids atop their shoulders.

But before the trio parked themselves in the standing crowd, they stopped at a small stand that sold mitarashi dango. It was the perfect festival and fireworks snack. They bought two, seeing as Naruto could not finish his and instead shared with Minato. There were four rice flour balls aligned on a stick, like a shish kabob, and were dipped evenly in syrup made from soy sauce, sugar, and starch.

"Look, daddy," Naruto spoke loudly as he pointed to the four members of the Head Family of the Uchiha Clan that were walking towards a blanket upon a low, grass covered hill. "I see Sasuke and Ita-nii! Can we go to them? _Please_?"

"Alright. Your mom probably wants to meet up with Mikoto anyway."

And so, the little family made their way over, periodically being stopped by villagers that wanted to greet their Hokage, who smiled in return. When they finally decided not to disturb him, seeing as he was in a situation that practically screamed "family time", they left Minato alone to his business and did not even bother to ask for another opening ceremony speech. He had given one earlier that afternoon anyway and humored the citizens for a few hours.

The Namikaze-Uzumaki family joined the Uchihas, sitting cross-legged on a patch of grass nearby to the blanket. The two four-year-olds, Naruto and Sasuke, quickly became acquainted with each other, having known each other since Naruto was a few days old, and started chattering excitedly. Mikoto Uchiha, her raven black hair swaying in the wind, talked to her red headed friend. Her husband, Fugaku with his hard stare, was as quiet as ever, and Itachi, the nine-year-old heir to the clan hovered protectively beside his younger sibling.

A few minutes had passed them by, and suddenly flashes of bright lights sparked above the Hokage Tower, creating a colorful glow about the Hidden Leaf. Booms and claps of the fireworks resounded in the night and the whizzed through the ambiance.

Then, quite abruptly and unexpectedly, one of the firework rockets careened off course, headed for a (thankfully), empty game booth, and a terrible explosion shook the grounds. Shouts and yelps of anxiety rippled through the crowds and people started panicking, groups of civilians already began to run for the nearest vacant pathway as an exit. Giving a meaningful look to Kushina and the Uchihas, the Fourth Hokage took off and sprinted to the scene.

Without uttering a word, he formed a short series of hand signs.

"Water Release: Spouting Water," he stated firmly, performing a simple C-rank technique that would easily wash out the escalating fire. However, as the Yellow Flash fulfilled his job as Hokage, something else was happening without his knowledge.

Back at the clearing where his family and their friends resided, a group of civilians had conveniently knocked into them, causing quite a ruckus as the families tried to stand up to avoid the crashing people. Leaves and petals from the chrysanthemums scattered into the wind and no one noticed as a well-situated cloud of dust had arisen from the earth and obscured their vision. Not thinking this as any kind of potential threat and just an accident, none of the Uchiha members even thought of activating their Sharingan, but if they had, they would have witnessed the struggle as the young Naruto Namikaze attempted to yell out, only to have a rough palm shoved on top of his mouth as ninja who clearly were experts in extinguishing their chakra whisked the boy away.

The hand muffled the child's frightened screams and he squirmed and kicked and even tried to bite his way out of the death grip. The wind howled in his petite ears, a clear sign that he and the intruders were moving very fast. They must have been running to high hell by that moment, afraid of getting caught.

By the time he and the three-man cell had reached a deserted street in between two tall buildings at the far edge of Konoha and near to the main entrance gate, Naruto had wriggled free and ran as fast as his feet could carry him in the opposite direction until he had unluckily reached a dead end. His blue eyes widened in horror and he swiveled around swiftly, raising his tiny fists in a crude form of juvenile defense. His whole body was trembling in pure terror, fear overtaking his senses and tear ducts prickling, _burning _with helplessness.

"Ha! You really think a puny little brat like you could defeat us well-trained Iwa nins with those _little_ breakable fists of yours?" One of the ninja, a large, burly and brunette man with a scar carved across his chin spat. "Get a clue, you Namikaze shit! Come with us quietly and we won't try to hurt you…yet." And he mocked the boy.

Naruto gasped, not liking the harsh tone of the man and replied with a shaky voice, "M—my daddy says I shouldn't talk to strangers!"

The shinobi scoffed at that. "Oh _boo hoo_. Daddy _this_, daddy _that_. Your _daddy _is a cold-blooded _murderer_, that's what he is! He killed my entire squad and my own brother in a border dispute during the war! He doesn't give a flying fuck about anything that breathes, let alone lives! Why should we, whose families and whose village your father has helped to tear apart in the past, allow him to have a son like you roam around unharmed when he would've gladly done it to our sons had he had the chance when he was a jounin?

"Why should we, victims of your father's slaughters and bloodied hands, allow him to live happy and carefree while we, as a direct result of his unforgiving actions, live with the nightmare everyday thinking how if we could've been stronger, could've been there to incapacitate that _bastard_, we could've still been as happy as before!"

The man breathed heavily, pointing a threatening kunai at the child's vulnerable throat. A female ninja with curly, dark hair that reached just past her shoulders and an unrelenting emerald gaze placed a gloved hand upon her fellow's shoulder. "Riku," she stated resolutely, "That's enough. Calm yourself. Focus on the objective."

He visibly relaxed, but his cold stare never left Naruto. Without moving an inch, he responded. "Ah, Midori. You're right. Sorry." He narrowed his eyes and then said, this time directing his full attention to the scared-out-of-his-wits child before them, "You, Namikaze brat. Come with us then."

Naruto shook his head, stumbling as he tried to back up into the brick wall that barred his escape, his lips opening and closing as he struggled with if he should say something or not. His senses were on hyperactive mode. He could feel every drop of nervous sweat, every hitch of his scared breathing; hear every step the adversaries took towards him, smell his own radiating fear…

He raised his fists closer to his face, trying to remember what his father had said about always protecting his head so that he was less likely to get knocked out. He blinked back the burning sensation he felt in his eyelids, tried not to give into his childish instincts of giving up and not fighting back. No, he _couldn't _give up! He was the Hokage's son! He was supposed to be brave and powerful like his father one day. He had already made up his mind about what his ninja way would be, and that was that he would never give up and that he would never go back on his word.

"I—I can't come with you. I—I can't! My mommy and daddy and Kaka-nii and Saskue wouldn't like it very much. So…so you can go away now." His fists clenched tighter. "I—If you don't then I—I'll fight you and get my daddy and—"

"Shut up, brat!" the same ninja that yelled at him previously growled. Then, a crazy and completely insane and cruel idea sprouted within the depths of Riku's mind. The old, war hardened shinobi smirked. This would be a piece of cake. "You love your _mommy _and _daddy_, don't you?

"If you don't come with us, we'll hurt them…" The Iwa ninja sneered at the little blond boy, an evil glint in his eye. "We'll hurt your mom and your dad…especially your dad. We'll _kill_ him for what he did against our village during the war."

The dam had finally broken. A crack had formed and now the boy had begun to silently cry. He didn't even notice as tear tracks made themselves known upon his widened, innocent orbs. He tried to shake his head 'no' and backed up another step even though all his feet met was a wall. But as he did so, there was a loud _crack _as Riku slapped the boy across the face, an angry red spot bloomed on the boy's left cheek and instantly began to swell.

"Don't you understand the situation you're in, you dimwitted child? Either we take you with us or your precious parents burn in hellfire! You're choice! Do you want to be the one who's responsible for hurting them like that?" He slapped the fox's jinchuuriki again. "Piece of shit! Answer me!"

The kid was suddenly well aware of the frog wallet he had gripped in one of his fists. How he had managed to not drop it in all of this time, he did not know. Gama-chan was something his mother had given to him. He had a fun birthday. He had fun eating at Ichiraku's with his mom and dad. The boy remembered how his father had carried him tenderly when his stomach was too full to allow him to walk properly after that fact. It was then that he made his decision.

Naruto shivered and couldn't help but give in, tears flowing down his face and his blue eyes glistening in sorrow and fear. Sobs wracked his body as he nodded, nodded his consent. Yes, he would go with them, he said, trying to be courageous. He would go because he never wanted anything bad to happen to mommy or daddy or _anyone_. He said that he didn't care as long as mommy and daddy were safe, as long as mommy kept smiling and daddy lived and protected Konoha like he always did because he was Hokage after all. He went with them and stayed true to his word. As long as his mommy and daddy were alive and well, as long as mommy and daddy loved him, Naruto would love them all the more.

Yet, the shinobi of the Village Hidden in the Stone were not as kindhearted. In order to keep the boy silent for the rest of the journey, one of them had shoved a chloroform doused towel in front of Naruto's nostrils, and the boy was knocked out instantly. On the way, they made sure to drop a note and did not stop to watch as it floated to land near a green frog on the dusted terrain.

The three-man cell and their intended target ghosted out of Konoha. The chuunin supposedly guarding the entrance gates never even knew what hit them. They left, mysteriously undetected and out through the gates and into the forests of the Fire Country, headed northwest into the Land of Earth and towards their homeland.

The young child dreamt. Another nightmare was at the pinnacle of his skewered thoughts…

"_Mommy I'm hungry," Naruto murmured while he huddled in the lonely corner of his cell. "Daddy, I'm scared…" Sometimes it helped if he pretended that they were there beside him, comforting and embracing him in the cold, dank, darkness, of his prison. _

ooo

The hidden village of Konoha was in a state of utter chaos. Apparently, the seemingly random explosion of the firework to a booth had been a diversion from an enemy's real objective. An Iwa nin had appeared out of the blue after the Hokage had extinguished the flames and had subsequently, but futilely, tried to attack him. Obviously, it was clear who the winner was. The poor ninja from Iwagakure never stood a chance. He was incapacitated within seconds.

The jounin hailing from the enemy village gurgled as he was held at knife point by an ANBU called Dog.

"What's your true objective, Iwa nin?" Dog asked harshly. "And answer truthfully. We can easily have you interrogated by the Yamanaka, and everyone outside of Konoha even knows of their mind-numbing techniques." He didn't bother to laugh at his own pun.

The enemy leered in retaliation. "True objective? I don't mind telling you at all. In fact, if I never told you or if you never found out, there wouldn't have been a point to this whole mission in the first place, now would there be?" The kunai at his throat tensed and was pressed closer to his jugular. A trickle of blood formed.

"Stop beating around the bush!" Dog glowered and was sorely tempted to pound a foot into the guy's mouth. "What were you doing here tonight?"

The ominous leer only grew in size. "Now, what would it do to hide it from you? I'm sure your _Fourth Hokage _will soon notice that something is missing, something very…ah…_precious_ to him and this accursed village. Of course, why should I say exactly what we took? You'll find out soon enough."

The kunai clattered to the ground. The circular crowd around the two had fallen silent. The enemy had taken something precious to them and their Hokage? What could that mean? A million and one questions surfaced in everyone's minds, but no one bothered to voice them out loud. The Hokage, who was standing sternly behind the ANBU had noticeably tensed. Something was going on, but what? What did they take?

Dog growled threateningly. "Tell me! What did you take? Did you—"

The shinobi underneath him laughed, and what a tremendously menacing laugh it was. Whatever they took, whatever they had managed to glean off of their village, did not bode well for any of them. "It's not _what _we took, but rather, _who _we took."

"You _didn't_…"

The crowd separated unexpectedly and noises of pushing and shoving and yelps from citizens were heard. At last, a frazzled looking Kushina stood, legs shaking and apprehension building up inside her chest. Close behind came a frightened Sasuke Uchiha and the rest of the Head Family of the infamous clan. Everyone stood stark still. If the Uzumaki woman, the Hokage's wife looked that shaken up, something dreadful must have occurred.

"Minato! _Minato!_" she bellowed unsteadily. "_MINATO! _He's gone!" The red-head collapsed on her knees, sobbing uncontrollably. "He's gone! Naruto! They took him!"

No one dared to say anything. The enemy had taken the Hokage's only son. The realization was devastating.

Barely anyone slept a wink that night. The villagers were terrified, holding their children close to them at all times. Naruto's peers and childhood friends kept asking where their friend had went off to if they had "taken him", but the parents never had an answer. The parents of shinobi families knew very well what was going on, but they chose not to reply to their children's advances.

The Dog ANBU had ordered his squad to immediately scout about the village to search for the boy and to search for any clues without the Fourth's consent. But, he knew very well that his teacher approved of the search team. If he hadn't done the deed straight away, Minato would have ordered the service later or at a more opportune minute.

At the moment, Dog kneeled reverently in front of his teacher's desk. Piles and stacks of paperwork teetered precariously atop it and although it was clear to anyone that there was a lot of desk work to be done, the man that usually had his head buried within the mess did not sit in the chair behind it, nor did he bother to make a move to.

Other people were in the room and one of them could not seem to stop looking down. Her eyes, which were once so full of life in the previous evening, were clouded with misery and guilt. Kushina sat on the edge of one of the couches in the Hokage's office, a pink puffiness surrounded her eyes as a sign of crying and there were bags underneath them. Mikoto had placed a comforting hand on her back.

The ANBU gritted his teeth, his knuckles turning white as he remained in his prostrate position. "Hokage-sama. There has been no progress as of yet. My ninja dogs are out searching for clues left behind by the enemy…"

"Right then. Keep up the search. Inform me of any progress at all. This is not a mission your team can hope to fail, do you understand me?" Minato emotionlessly replied. His back was to his student and his hands were clasped behind him as he hid his face from view. The new day's morning rays escaped from behind Konoha's buildings and framed his intimidating silhouette as he stared out into the grand window that revealed a picturesque sight of his home.

Startled at his teacher's lack of feeling, he only grunted a response.

Abruptly, a puff of smoke poof-ed into existence as one of Kakashi's ninja summons materialized. The light brown pug was huffing and panting, obviously tired and worked to the bone.

"Pakkun! Did you find anything?" Kakashi asked, his ANBU mask still firmly concealing his true identity. "Any clues? Anything at all?"

The pug's body slouched, whimpering as all sad dogs do, and lifted his head, revealing a fluffy frog wallet between his jaws and a torn, square of paper. They had, at least, found a clue.

When Minato witnessed this, his blue eyes hardened considerably. "That frog is Naruto's," he pointed out and then continued, "That note. Give it to me," he commanded.

As his eyes scanned the letter, he scowled. "Damn them. It's a ransom," and then he sighed, looking to be much older then he actually was, "A trade. My son, for me. What a low and heavy blow."

"Damn," Minato breathed, clutching his fists at his sides, "Damn it." He tried to keep a calm façade. He was the cream of the crop, the best of the best, the Hokage of the Land of Fire. He had to keep his emotions in check, but yet the feat was virtually impossible. He never thought his enemies would stoop so low. Iwakagure had stolen what was most precious to him, his only little boy, his four-year-old son. How _could _they?

His insides boiled when he thought of what those shinobi could be doing to Naruto. The boy must be scared, he must be quaking in fear and crying for his parents to come and hold him, but oh how the Fourth wanted more than anything else at the moment to hold him and keep him safe from harm, just as he had promised four years ago when his son was just a mere newborn.

The father, the mother, the adopted brother, the best friends, and others who cared, glanced around the Village Hidden in the Leaves and noticed, as if for the first time, the flowers that had replaced the cherry blossoms that littered the streets. They were glaringly fake compared the falling petals that symbolized beauty and fallen warriors, glaringly too much like surrogates for the real thing, just as those people who hoped beyond hope that they could find little Naruto had glaringly fake smiles gracing their features, hiding their hurt from the rest of the villagers who did not yet know.

"I'll kill them," the father murmured to himself, unbeknownst to everyone else in the office, "even if the Council won't let me go on a mission myself."


	3. Rock Rain

**AN: One thing is absolutely certain. I am so cruel. And I'm very sorry for taking so long (5-6 months?!) to update! I promise it won't take quite that long again. **

**Extra chapter notes: The name **_**Yutaka, **_**which is used in this chapter, means "abundant, plentiful, and rich."**

_**Nobu **_**means "delay" and** _**Yamaguchi **_**means "mountain mouth."**

**-This chapter is dedicated to **_**xXJeanetteXx **_**who wrote a very inspiring private message to me about this story and further pushing me into writing more. Also to my friend, **_**DryBonesKing**_**, for pestering me.-**

**Chapter Three:  
>Rock Rain<strong>

"_The strongest of this earth are not those who have fought and come out alive, but are those who have fought and endured and still remained as human as the day they were born."_

* * *

><p>He shivered violently in the corner of his earthen prison, rapid breaths releasing from his mouth in a fast succession. The hard stone that surrounded him was shaped like a cage and he was too weak to even attempt to escape from it. Naruto's fists clenched and he brought them closer to his chest, wheezing out as he did so.<p>

His skin was drenched in cold sweat, somehow kind of tingly, and he could feel beads of it forming directly about his pores. Though the young Namikaze had been sick before, he had _never _quite felt this badly. His joints ached, especially his lower back. If he could describe everything in one confusing word however, the blond would say he was numb.

How long had it been since the Iwa nins had taken him? He couldn't be so sure. How long had it been since he had a decent and warm meal that actually satisfied his appetite? Days, maybe. The enemy shinobi had made it a point to barely feed him. They needed him alive for some odd reason, but only just, and feeding him a small bowl of brown, stale rice, and a pitiful canteen of funny smelling water at what seemed like spontaneous and extremely spaced-out intervals were included in "keeping the Namikaze shit alive." Whatever that meant.

But what was worse was the horrible psychological torture they decided would be _hilarious _to play on him. In fact, the Iwa nins had only started playing the little trick on him the previous morning and the four-year-old child was so hopeful that it would cause him to fall for it every single time.

The stone door creaked open as a shinobi with an earth affinity used a technique to temporarily push it down and in stepped in a very familiar man with blond hair and blue eyes, a pure white cloak with orange-red flames decorated the bottom edges, and a kind, painfully placid and endearing expression upon his face.

"…Naruto," the man said tenderly as the blond boy set a watery gaze to look at him, "I'm here. I'm sorry it took so long. I promise that nothing will happen to you ever again."

The blond, older man calmly walked up to the trembling child. He cautiously crouched down and placed comforting palms on the boy's shaking shoulders. But Naruto flinched away, afraid of the tentative touch. "I won't hurt you, Naruto. I promise. I care about you. I'll bring you back home to Konoha and then you'll be safe again. Don't you trust me?" The man smiled that incredibly startling and kindly smile and whispered, "It's me. Remember?"

And Naruto did. He did remember. But maybe that's why it hurt to high heaven so much. "Yes. I 'member," the little kid mumbled out, words quiet and a bit slurred from exhaustion. "It's you…daddy? Daddy…daddy…" And he cried, soft sobs and sniffles rocking him slightly. "Daddy…I missed you…daddy…I wanna go home…daddy…where's mommy? I'm scared…_daddy_…"

Then, just as Naruto easily slid into his father's soft embrace and just as he turned his head so that he could hear the reassuring heartbeat in his father's chest, a hard slap burned at his sensitive cheek's skin and a cold, vile form of laughter could be heard echoing throughout the cell. His father had dropped him effortlessly and without remorse upon the ground and stood up, effectively forming hand seals as he towered over the small form.

"Release," the imposter said and there stood another man who clearly was _not_ his father. His kind, loving, gentle, and warm father. In his place stood a burly man with a biting leer, his false façade vanished, and that distinctive scar running across his chin.

A boot found its way to Naruto's face and he sobbed uncontrollably now when he realized the trick had gotten him once again. He felt like a squeamish and helpless fool.

"How's that you pasty brat? Accurate enough? Gave you enough artificial hope? And what about that _will of fire _of yours? Is that thing still supposedly burning within you? You seemed desperate enough. Would Konoha's Yellow Flash really stoop that low to even think twice about a worthless little child like you?" Unexpectedly, his stare only grew more frigid and if Naruto hadn't been so busy crying into the dirt, he would have noticed a slim drop in temperature.

"Why would he even bother to be that gentle with anyone? He's a murderer. Don't ever forget that kid. Your father isn't who he claims to be, what your insignificant village marks him up to be. He's strong; I'll give him that, a legend even. But in the hearts of men he is a beast waiting to pounce, a monster, a demon waiting for the next kill. He'll never come to save you. He doesn't care. He never will. You'll stay here to _rot_." And a significant footprint shone red on Naruto's forehead and nose, a nice purpling bruise as well, as the Iwa ninja walked out of the prison cell with a careless wave, his back to him.

As Riku walked out, the door slid shut and he noticed, yet again, the emerald irises of his trusted comrade.

"That was undoubtedly cruel, Riku," Midori stated nonchalantly and the muscular man nodded towards her, smirking as they sauntered away, the feeble and defenseless cries of the Yellow Flash's only son rumbling and muffled across the closed stone entrance and through the earthen hallways of their hideout, and they laughed at the falseness of their cold-hearted warmth.

ooo

The Fourth Hokage did not receive a wink of sleep the previous night, and neither did his wife. The sun was already high up and the day was approaching early afternoon. As his sleepy azure eyes stared blankly at the glass fishbowl sitting proudly on his paper-and-scroll-riddled desk, the orange scales of the goldfish his son had given him that evening two days and a half ago swam in never ending circles, sparkling with water and natural shine.

Of course, he had wanted to set out on a mission immediately, but however, the Council of Elders had adamantly refused. Though they all knew the gravity of the situation, and knew not just of the fact that this was the _Hokage's son_ that went missing, but also the _Kyuubi's jinchuuriki_, the predicament called for careful planning and rational decision making. Under normal circumstances, (if you call the world of the ninja _normal_), Minato would have easily seen this logic, but his demeanor at the moment was nowhere near rational.

His only son was missing, _his only little boy_, his wife was distraught with unbearable worry, and the village was in an uproar with parents refusing to let their children out of sight. For the first time in four years since the Nine-Tails had attacked his beloved village, Minato felt like an utter failure as father, a leader, and a human being in general.

A slight flicker in the Hokage's peripheral vision disturbed his thoughts and into view came the face of his only remaining student, save for his ANBU mask, and only dressed in the standard Konoha green flak jacket of a Jounin.

"Sensei," the Hatake said with an emotionless tone, "Jiraya-sama has arrived and is here to see you. The Third also has requested the Council of Elders to convene at three o'clock this afternoon. You have a few hours." The teenager sighed, his only visible eye crinkling in worry.

"And," the silver-haired teen continued, "If there's anything I can…"

Minato blinked and his stare was ice cold as he completely ignored his student's concern. "Please allow Jiraya-sensei into my office. Kakashi, resume your post and await orders. I will call you when the Council decides to meet. I expect you to be there on time."

Eyebrows furrowing in resignation, his student lowered his head, nodded, and opened the office's door to reveal a tall man with a mane of white hair, a rigid jaw, and crimson eye makeup running from the ends of his lower eyelids to his chin. Kakashi poof-ed away simultaneously.

The man identified as Jiraya sauntered into the room, careful to make sure the entrance was shut tightly, and set his gaze upon the village leader before him. Jiraya's eyes were dark and deliberating; not at all like the lecherous streak he had earned himself in the local women's bathhouses. His façade was serious and his lips formed a frown as he observed the blond before him, watching as the younger man's hands propped up his head and his stare remained icy.

"Well," the taller man's voice boomed. He did not bother to take a seat, but instead stood defiantly in front of the mahogany desk. "If it isn't my promising student. Care to explain all this to me; why you haven't made a move yet? Or rather, why you're letting the Council of _fools _hold you back? "

He was only met with an even more frigid stare.

The self-proclaimed lecher sighed deeply. "Minato, I know you better than this. What are you doing here, sitting on your thumbs while Kakashi worries himself to no end, trying to figure out how to find your son, and you could have easily ordered a search team? I'm sure the Hatake brat would be more than willing to take the job."

It was then that the stillness snapped. Wood screeched upon tile as the Hokage's chair backed into the wall, its owner standing away from it. Minato's eyes were downcast and his expression unreadable. A pregnant pause passed until suddenly, both his palms pounded once in a decisive gesture on his writing desk. Seemingly unfazed, Jirarya did not bother to flinch. He stayed quiet and still as the reverberating sound echoed for a few seconds in the room and the hallways behind the door.

Nothing moved. Nothing stirred. All was deathly hushed.

"You think…you think this isn't difficult?" Minato murmured, breaking the silence. "You think that I…that I _want _it to be this way?"

Jiraya listened warily. Minato never allowed himself to be this emotional, especially when acting as the Hokage. He was kind, yes, had human emotions, yes. But he had never seen his student acting so…vulnerable. It was like viewing an entirely different person. The whole display was wholly uncharacteristic of his personality. The man wasn't himself at all and that worried the teacher.

"It wasn't as if I allowed them to take my son," the Fourth went on in a bitter whisper, "Perhaps the village wasn't diligent enough with the festivities going on. Perhaps I was too lax. But that does not change the fact that they took him.

"That does not change the fact that the Council will not let me make a move because they're too caught up in the idea of fear of instigating another war with Iwa, or that the ransom note those shinobi left behind all point to having an exchange involving my life for my son's. You know that if it is for my son, I would gladly give up my life, sensei."

Jiraya, one of the renowned and legendary Sannin, could no longer take what he deemed as nonsense. The older man's dark orbs narrowed dangerously and his scowl only deepened. Without so much as a warning, he had lashed out with an angry snarl to his most talented and favorite student.

One of the Sannin's fingers pointed accusingly at the blond. "Then what are you doing here? This isn't the Third Shinobi War anymore, Minato! You don't have to put this off any longer! Look at yourself! This is destroying you!"

"I don't—"

"Don't bother hiding it from me! Don't you think I know you better? This isn't like you at all! It's almost been three days since the incident from what I've heard, and yet, here you are, standing still." The white-haired main glowered. "You _never _stand still. I know you want to try and think rationally, but sometimes the irrational solution is the better choice in a situation like this."

Another short silence stretched in the room and Minato blinked, gaze focused somewhere downward. He could not bear to look at his teacher directly. Somehow, somewhere in his gut, he knew the man was right. He knew it, but yet he could not swallow the truth whole. He and his wife had been worried sick for their son, getting sleepless nights and eating speechless meals with each other. They had both wordlessly agreed that they needed to try to at least be a little reasonable. It was not smart to simply jump into the fray and retrieve their son without proper planning and coordination, least of all when it was a ransom for the Land of Fire's Hokage.

And yet…

They had waited too long indeed.

The Namikaze locked eyes with the whitewashed tiles on his office floor. "I know," he softly said, "You're right."

ooo

"Hokage-sama, if I may," the Elder Koharu stated a little forcefully, her old and wrinkled forehead crinkling with visible displeasure. "But the rationale behind Iwa's attack was to force you to act and to seek vengeance for the Leaf's superior performance in the Third Shinobi War. Wouldn't it be more prudent for the village and for our Hokage—_you_—if we simply leave this matter to unfold on its own? Perhaps we should let them take their bait and give them nothing to exchange."

The Fourth narrowed his gaze at the old woman, an icy stare boring into her person. He frowned and was about to come up with a reply when the white-haired Sannin interrupted.

Jiraya stood to the right hand side of his favorite student, arms crossed defiantly on his chest while Minato sat on the Hokage's chair on an elevated portion of the Council room. His predecessor and the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, sat nearby with an expressionless façade. Standing without his dog mask in the far former nearest to the door was Kakashi Hatake. All around them, multiple clan heads and other influential shinobi of Konoha sat seemingly patiently, waiting to give their input.

The meeting had been called by the Third himself at three o'clock sharp, yet they had been arguing for the past few hours. Minato was not sure whether evening had fully set in or not.

"Are you saying we should leave the boy to die, Koharu?" The Sannin asked with barely hidden venom.

The Elder gripped the armrests tightly and raised her voice ever so slightly. "I'm saying that this village has no need for that boy! Why should we be forced to choose between the lives of our leader and a weak child? The answer is obvious isn't it? Konoha needs our Fourth Hokage more than the life of a four-year-old toddler! Not to mention that toddler holds the Nine Tails! If Iwa kills the boy, they kill the demon for decades until it returns."

Another man with dark, medium length hair and coal-black eyes stood immediately after her comment, showing a hint of cold ferocity and emotionless irritation. He was Fugaku Uchiha, the head of the acclaimed Uchiha Clan and Police Force.

"If not then for the life of an innocent little boy who is not only a member of this village, but the son of our Hokage, then for the fact that Naruto is the Nine Tails' jinchuuriki…Elder Koharu," Fugaku stated venomously. "Since obviously an older woman such as yourself lacks a moral conscience—"

"Conscience," Homura, the male elder sitting with poise near the aged woman, snarled. "_Conscience_? Any Uchiha like you with morals is enough of a surprise!"

A screeching noise reverberated through the Council Room, wood against ceramic scratched up tile. Another member had stood up in justified fury. Hiashi Hyuuga , the head of the prominent Hyuuga Clan, had also stood tall while directing his pupil-less eyes at the elders who seemed to be sitting with cold logic spread across their features.

The Hyuuga and the Uchiha were not traditionally known to get along quite well as they both had an elusive Bloodline Limit, but they were united in at least one respect as most in their generation were: they were passionately loyal to their Fourth Hokage.

Minato had changed many things in Konoha and became the leader that the village desperately needed, especially after the Third Great War. He had pressed Hiashi to realize that his clan's Caged Bird Seal would end up detrimental one day and was, quite frankly, rather harsh. He had pushed for the Uchiha's innocence when they were accused of unleashing the Kyuubi four years previously, and even fought for them when angry shinobi attempted to attack their compound when many still thought they needed to blame _someone _for the death of their friends and families in the Kyuubi attack. Of course, the majority of the village saw Naruto as a hero for keeping the demon at bay at such a young age and even respected him, but there were a few others, such as the Elders, who saw the boy as a threat, which brought up a fierce battle of words.

"I agree with the Uchiha," the Hyuuga leader stated firmly, which brought about a good amount of wide eyed stares and gasps of shock directed towards his intimidating form. "If not for the blameless child himself, then for the Leaf. If Iwa gets a hold of our jinchuuriki, whether they are aware of it or not, the balance of power would be greatly damaged and obviously not tip in our favor. If the situation is left alone, Iwa _will_ eventually discover that Naruto Namikaze holds the Nine-Tails, and if they do, it would not be difficult to force a child who is not strong enough to defend himself to unleash his tenant upon their enemies, including us."

Koharu scoffed at the comment. "Preposterous! The Hidden Stone would sooner dispose of the son of the bane of their existence than to keep him as a reminder of their most tragic loss."

"And if they do?" The Hyuuga continued, unfazed. "The Kyuubi would be temporarily subdued, but only just. We do not know for sure if it would take decades or even months for the beast to return full force. You know as well as I do that one cannot simply 'kill a tailed-beast.' Then what? The balance of power would be tipped on an even larger scale and there would be no immediate host to keep it under control. More lives will be lost."

"You can't possibly—"

Minato had just about enough. Realizing that any emotional outburst would not benefit him in the Council Room, he had made sure to shape his face into something that remained stoic after his uncharacteristic behavior in front of his teacher back at the Hokage Tower. But now, after hours of constant arguing and badgering and running in circles that went absolutely _nowhere_, the Yellow Flash was more than ready to make an appearance and settle his authority once and for all.

"That's enough," the blond said in an eerily calm voice. The members of the Council shifted their attention to the leader immediately and the Uchiha and Hyuuga lowered themselves into their respective chairs without another word.

He went on, "Elder Koharu, while I deeply respect your opinion on the matter, I have to say that I disagree." The woman looked as if she was about to interrupt him, but he cut her off with a glare. "Personal feelings aside, I'm sure you all know where I stand. I agree with the Uchiha and the Hyuuga…

He paused and subsequently took a deep, confident breath. "…And therefore would like to propose the mission that I'm sure you all could also see coming."

From that point onward, the meeting was concluded within the next thirty minutes. In fact, the entire group of Clan Heads including the Uchiha, Hyuuga, Nara, Yamanaka, Akimichi, and so on, all stood up for their Hokage. Astonishingly, the old war hawk, Danzo Shimura, had also put in his vote in the Hokage's favor. Though, it could be said that it was for personal reasons. A very small minority, including the Elders but minus the Third Hokage, voted otherwise.

With well over a two-thirds vote in place, the proposed mission was a go. The Third was to retake his position as active Hokage for the duration of the event, and Jiraya of the Sannin and Kakashi Hatake would accompany the Fourth to retrieve his son and "negotiate" with Iwa. If this was a mission ordered by the Tsuchikage, tensions would arise, but that was something that was already unavoidable, ordered or not.

Of course, there were conditions. Kushina was not to go with her husband, even as much as many knew she wanted. Minato reluctantly agreed, but knew, however, that if he did not agree to the terms, then the mission would face rejection. The Elders were afraid that if Kushina went there were chances of the Hidden Stone capturing her and using her for her special Uzumaki chakra. At that moment, there were numerous in the room that desired to point out that Naruto had that "special Uzumaki chakra" as well.

However many tries it took, the mission was finally signed for approval. They would depart in the premature hours of the morning the following day.

ooo

"Is this the right thing to do, sensei?"

Jiraya chuckled. "Of course. Naruto needs an example and that example is _you_. 'A son watching his father's back will eventually get better.' Right, Hokage?"

"You're getting sentimental again. You know that's not what I mean."

A sigh, and then the Sannin replied, "Right, right. You want to know if this mission was the right choice…"

"Right," said Minato softly. "So is it?"

Kakashi Hatake, a fairly newly minted legal adult in his own right, listened to the banter of his teacher and his teacher's teacher as he leaned against the village gates with a book held up to cover his masked face. Their voices were rising in loudness, so he supposed that that two were approaching him and would arrive at his side soon enough. He heard footsteps and a startled intake of breath as Kushina, the red-haired beauty that was his teacher's wife, appeared to be dumbfounded.

"_Kakashi_? You're…early?" she spat out, clearly dumbfounded.

The eighteen-year-old blinked; lowering the novel he was reading and replied, "It was too important to be late for. Naru has been waiting long enough. Obito would understand."

The three older shinobi had arrived at that point and were staring pointedly at Kakashi with raised eyebrows. The teenager simply responded in a similar fashion and they exchanged statements of well-meaning and good luck to each other, Kushina especially. She was noticeably upset that she was barred from assisting with the rescue of her son, but in the end she had to agree with Minato, albeit quite unenthusiastically. It was a deal or no deal predicament.

The sun was starting to rise, signaling the beginnings of daybreak. It would soon be time to depart. The gate keepers nodded their consent at their Hokage who had abandoned his trademark white coat for a more traditional jounin attire. Kushina waved at her husband, whispering to be careful and to bring back Naruto safely, and the trio was about to exit the village when they heard a light shuffling behind them. In a second little nine-year-old Itachi Uchiha and his younger four-year-old brother, Sasuke appeared from behind one of the enormous gates.

Sasuke, who was grasping his brother's hand timidly, looked up with wide eyes to Minato, who could not help but stare back.

"Um," the youngest Uchiha mumbled in a childish voice, "Bring my friend back, m'kay?"

The father smiled down at the boy, his heart touched without letting it be known. "Of course. It's a promise."

"Really, really promise?" the raven haired boy questioned with a touch more confidence as he held out his tiny, miniature pinky to the elder blond adult. "Pinky promise?"

"Now, little brother…" Itachi tried to reprimand him for being so informal to their village leader, but Minato waved him off, instead holding out his right hand's pinky to the boy and replied with a soft smile and a statement of, "Pinky promise."

Satisfied, the two hooked their fingers, making an air of hope fill the surrounding areas and the people around them suddenly felt as if Naruto would come back to them after all. A man never went back on his word and a child would never, _never _allow a broken promise.

Subsequently the three man squad was off and out of the Village Hidden in the Leaves, on their way out of the Land of Fire and into enemy territory in the Land of Earth as the rays of the early morning had barely begun to make cracks in the slowly lightening sky above them. They had left behind a waiting village, but most of all a waiting mother, brother, and best friend. Yet there was a great deal of hardship on the road ahead…

Soon day had transformed into night. With the rate the Leaf ninja were travelling and with the added bonus of the fastest shinobi known to be alive on their team, they would arrive at the border of the Land of Earth by early noontime even if they did take a few hours to rest in the middle of Grass Country, the direct northwestern nation bordering Fire Country.

According to their source (the Iwa shinobi that stupidly attempted to attack the Hokage on the night of Naruto's abduction), the hideout where the child would be hidden was nestled just past the border of Grass and Earth in the narrow Yutaka Mountain. The base was concealed by a great number of seals, but with two seal masters including the Hokage and his teacher, and a Sharingan Eye user, they most likely would be of no consequence. However, that did not deter from the fact that danger would surely present itself.

Darkness trickled down the horizon, covering the rustling leaves in a blanket of purples, grays, and blacks. The swaying grass of the nation's namesake tickled the three travelers' ankles and brushed against their sandals, alerting them to the incoming later hours of the evening. Crickets chirped dissonantly in the background until Kakashi's sensitive hearing caused his eardrums to ring uncomfortably.

They had set up a temporary camp in the middle of a grass plain, the plants tall enough that they were even enough to cover up to the imposing height of Jiraya, albeit just barely. Minato volunteered to keep watch; they would only rest for a maximum of five hours anyway. It was imperative that they continue moving as quickly as possible. Who knew what the enemy could be doing to his son?

Kakashi had leaned against a comfortable stone near their portion of the clearing and had subsequently closed his eyes in obvious sleep when the Sannin had dared to break the silence and speak with his former student who was no doubt brooding silently, his back facing their camp and his body crouched in a sitting position with one knee tucked near his chest.

"You know if you keep your face like that it will eventually stay that way," the older man said as he stood with his arms crossed defiantly across his broad chest. "And if you keep sitting like that you might get arthritis at a premature age."

He sunk down adjacent to the Namikaze, finally noticing that he had been staring without purpose at the nighttime's starless sky. It was a new moon that darkened the usually twinkling skies and he supposed it did not help that there were numerous shadows of gloomy clouds flitting by. The breeze was virtually nonexistent while, somehow, the biting and progressively colder weather of autumn seeped through the fabrics of their clothing. Journeying north proved to be somewhat of a miserable experience not only because of the circumstances, but because it was an obvious transition from the Fire Country's warm climate to a harsher one.

Silently and quite suddenly, a red looking star flickered into existence.

Jiraya pointed to the light and stated, "Look at that. Correct me if I'm wrong but I'd say that's the planet Mars. Strange it's the only one showing tonight."

"I can't say I noticed, sensei," Minato murmured back.

The white-haired man huffed and pouted his lips, looking quite like an odd, complaining toad. "Ah you're just being a killjoy," he responded. "But you know what they say about that planet?"

The Hokage glanced at his teacher with a questioning gaze and Jiraya went on. "It's the planet that means war, named after some god from some distant land none of us have ever heard of. I'm no astronomy specialist, but they also call it the Red Planet, something about the gases and the volcanoes people say they think are on it. I suppose that's fitting, war…

"If you think about our situation now, war makes a lot of sense, but if you think about it further, it would make less sense that Mars doesn't show up every day. We're shinobi. We live for battle and conflict, don't we? "

Minato sighed, closing his azure eyes. "And that's the problem with our world. When one person thinks they are rebuilding the world, another believes it is being destroyed, and when one person thinks the world is being collapsed into the dust, it's the opposite for someone else. It is a vicious cycle, this hatred, and the reason Naruto is gone."

For a while, there was nothing but silence and the sound of the continuous chirping of crickets. Neither could deny the ultimate truth. Warfare breeds warfare and hatred breeds hatred. When one loves, he or she is also bound to hate. It is the result of human nature, the result of an imperfect humanity and the human heart. In order to compensate for what one person may believe to be a previous wrongdoing, vengeance is called upon, and then again, and again, and again…

Because Minato loved his country, he fought bravely and loyally in the Third Shinobi War. Because the Iwa ninja loved their families and friends, they grew to despise the man that killed them just because he was following his heart to protect his own nation. Because that same man that killed so many in the war loved his son, they exacted their revenge by threatening his life.

And again the cycle continued without restraint.

And through the night they dreamed of these things, seeing weapons fly and flashes of yellow zip rapidly across whole battalions and wads of resilient earth rising up to strike and maim those that stood in their path. They dreamed of falling rocks and comrades, of a brave Uchiha who had chosen to see the future through his left eye by giving it to his friend. In their dreams somewhere, a strange man with an orange swirled mask appeared in the shadows of their mind like a faded memory; he was a constant reminder of the hatred of the world poised on one person, one point. But by the time they had woken up and Kakashi had finished his shift, both men had already forgotten about the masked man and Kakashi was unconsciously rubbing his covered left eye.

ooo

The phenomenon of "rock rain" was a bizarre one. And, as the title suggested, that was exactly what was happening at that very moment.

Minuscule rocks and pebbles were raining from the sky on the northwestern edge of Grass Country. The impressive summit of the Earth Country's bordering mountain range towered magnificently above the land, casting long and stretched shadows that extended for miles behind the travelling ninja, and one pebble in particular _ker-plunk _'ed onto the Hatake's gravity defying hair.

It was early afternoon, judging by the positioning of the sun and the not-quite-warm-enough weather. They had made it to their destination in record time and so far, all was going according to the plan.

"Judging from the landscape and our intelligence reports, Yutaka mountain is only just under six kilometers from here. With our speed, we should be able to reach the hideout within an hour," Minato stated as they raided their head to look up at the beginnings of the mountain range bordering Grass and Earth. "From there we should be able to formulate a plan and attack on the onset of evening."

They did not want to wait too long to break Naruto out of the hold. There was no telling what the Iwa shinobi would do, but they did want to attack as close to the afternoon hours as possible when the enemy would least expect it. The problem was the enemy _did _expect them. A ransom note was not left for nothing. It was Konoha's Fourth Hokage for Naruto Namikaze, a deal which was clearly unacceptable even to most of the village who valued both lives to be as precious to them as gold was to the greedy man.

"Kakashi, save up your chakra for Obito's Sharingan. I'm sure you will need his help," the Fourth said sternly, glancing at his student who nodded in confirmation while he tightened his forehead protector that encircled his head and covered his secret weapon.

"Let's go."

And so they were off, using the cover of the stones and ever daunting mountain range as cover, taking advantage of how lucky they were that Earth Country had become lenient in guarding its borders immediately after the end of the war effort. The three man squad crossed into the rival nation quite easily.

Their lack of a fourth member was also forgotten and ignored. With two kage-level shinobi and one that was more than capable of becoming that level in the near future, there was simply no need. Nrauto would join them soon anyway. _He had to_.

_Naruto_, Minato thought to himself as his blue eyes finally locked onto their target, _I promise that I _will _get you out of there and then you'll be safe again. I promise…!_

Slightly less than an hour had passed and Yutaka Mountain was clear in their line of sight. The sun had only just barely dipped further down in the sky, the afternoon still fairly early. The climb had not been as difficult as one would first imagine, but then again, all three members were highly trained ninja. Their packs contained mountain climbing gear, but it was hardly even needed, and so the trio crouched silently on a rocky cliff directly adjacent to the target.

Yutaka was narrow, as the reports said. Because it was such an important mountain to the Earth Country in that it was a major source of income and riches, namely the precious minerals that were mined from its stony confines, the name was carved rather crudely on a few sides of it. Numerous entrances to either in-use or too-used mines littered the base and even were built nearer to the peak. A cave entrance to an abandoned mine shaft stood tauntingly out to them, but Kakashi immediately took the opportunity to observe it.

When the silver-haired teenager activated his red, kaleidoscope-like eye, the cave blurred and swirled out of existence, the littered wood that served to look like some sort of makeshift door rippled out of sight and he saw the true entrance; it was a large boulder completely blocking out an opening and a single, circular, complex seal with no clear pattern was inked with black solidly in the middle. When he told his teacher and the Sannin this, both nodded and sank into their thoughts to think.

Minato sighed and pulled out a sheet of scrap paper from his gear pack, retrieving a pen as well.

"Kakashi, can you copy the seal exactly as you see it onto this? We need to see what we're dealing with," he suggested and the one addressed took the tools with a determined look, aware that the Sharingan would allow him to copy things exactly as they were.

As the pen scratched hurriedly across the white, both Minato and Jiraya gasped in surprise. The blond stared wide-eyed at the paper, and they were both somehow amazed at the complexity of the seal and its outright dangerous nature. They were in for some problems.

"Minato," the Sannin said with a pointed look to his student, and the Fourth understood right away.

Not only was a powerful genjutsu cast on the entrance to the perpetrators' hideout (for clearly this _was _the hideout) that only those with either the Byakugan or the Sharingan could hope to notice it, but they were so diverse in nature that they could possibly have a skilled sealing master on their side. As it was, they would be lucky if they could break the seal before daybreak.

The Hatake was growing worried with the looks and glances both older men were giving each other. "What kind of seal is it, sensei?"

Minato's eyes narrowed considerably. "It's a specific summoning seal that activates if it detects even a hint of shinobi chakra _touching _it," he took a deep breath then continued, "According to the seal you wrote out, it is also responsible for casting the genjutsu over the entrance _and, _if provoked, it will summon an Iwa jinchuuriki to fight us. If the seal is to fail, it will release an unnamed poison if not properly disabled and tampered with, which would seem virtually impossible without breaking the genjutsu which the seal itself is already casting."

Jiraya continued the thought for him, saying, "The seal isn't impossible to break. Both Minato and I can handle it with your guidance on what we might not be able to see." He gestured over to the Namikaze with his thumb and said, "After all this guy has dealt with far more complex seals like the Shiki Fujin.

"However, even with our skill, it's more likely that the seal would take well up to two days to break and we don't have that kind of time. We need a new plan, and fast. Naruto's waiting for us and I'm not about to let my godson wait any longer."

Minato gazed at the supposed mine shaft entrance, seeing his four-year-old son's smiling face in his mind's eye. An unwavering resolve burned through his chest and suddenly he was hit with a reckless plan, a plan as irrational as his Kushina was on a daily basis, a plan that the Yellow Flash of Konoha would surely _never _suggest in stride.

He clenched his fists, ignoring the curious glimpses he was undoubtedly receiving from both teacher and student. He saw Naruto again, giggling and grinning as he offered his father the plastic bag which contained the happily swimming goldfish, begging him to _please _let him ride on his back to the Hokage Tower _just this once_, running around with Sasuke while Itachi chased them in a rough-and-ready game of tag…

Caught in the middle of a father's unfaltering desire to protect his child, Minato Namikaze gathered the blazing Will of Fire he carried within the deepest depths of his heart and said with a commanding tone that anyone would be forced to obey, "I have a plan…"

And Kakashi and Jiraya made no move to contradict the rashness of it as the strategy began to flow into motion.

So they found themselves separated forty-five minutes later after formulating and perfecting the wild-card plan. Minato stood before the entrance of the hideout without his billowing white and flame-trimmed Hokage cloak he usually donned nowadays. He was alone, his arms seemingly relaxed by his sides and though he was dressed as a normal jounin, he still held that unforgiving and powerful countenance of a leader who witnessed warmongering times, eyes icy cold as the winter season he was born into.

Kakashi and Jiraya hid skillfully a good distance away behind a clump of rocks, carefully hiding their chakra and more than one-hundred percent sure that the enemy would not be able to detect them. They were too skillful in their craft, age differences a moot point.

Calmly, Minato stepped another foot or so forward nearer to the entranceway and stopped just before the estimated place the boulder began, not daring to brush against the seal and he gently fingered the ransom note he kept in his pocket. Then abruptly, he used his commanding voice again, the baritone reflecting and bouncing off the mountains in the background in refracting sound waves like an unnerving echo.

"Iwa, Konoha has received your message. I, Minato Namikaze and Fourth Hokage from the Land of Fire am here to negotiate your terms." After a few seconds of no response, he added in an impossibly more intimidating tone, "Show yourselves!"

A terse breeze zipped by, cutting into the three Leaf ninjas' skin, and the silence ceased to exist. A strange rumbling noise reverberated in the mountain pass, causing the bizarre phenomenon of the rock rain to tilt sharply in the air as if commanded by some higher being to do so, and puffs of smoke lifted soundlessly on random edges of Yutaka Mountain.

A middle-aged man appeared standing on a ledge a few meters away from the ground that Minato stood confidently upon. He looked as if he could have been handsome some years ago if it weren't for the ugly red scar the slanted across from his right temple, through his eye, across his nose bridge, and finally curling awkwardly to the left edge of his lower lip, looking almost as if he had two bottom lips instead of one. His hair was a dark purplish brown and was cut in a ragged fashion to curve just below his jaw line. He was dirty, rugged, an Iwa jounin's vest strapped carelessly on his chest which was clearly not taken care of often as it had obtained holes and scratches that any seasoned shinobi would have patched up when given the chance. His left calf appeared disfigured and bumpy and his eyes were black with cunning and hate, but what stood out the most was the man's wicked smile.

"I am Nobu Yamaguchi," the foul presence snarled, "leader of the Stone's fiercest avengers. And you—_Yellow Flash_—are not here to negotiate, but to agree. If we sense that you resist, your little Namikaze shit will be silenced—_right in front_ of his father."

The Hokage almost scowled in hot-blooded anger. How dare he talk about Naruto like that? How dare he even _suggest _or even imply an _inkling _of an idea of hurting his little boy? But he forced himself to keep his head leveled. If Minato let his emotions show now, they would not doubt use his weakness to their advantage. It was not as if he had not been significantly weakened by the mere fact that they had his son in the first place, and that thought was held over him like a noose. If they hurt Naruto, they ultimately hurt him. These men knew how to play their cards quite well.

Unfortunately for them, they had no idea of what kind of game they were playing.

He almost demanded that Yamaguchi take him to Naruto, but Minato had to suppress the father in him. If he asked so soon, he would appear desperate. He needed to keep his political air.

_Calm. Cool. Confident_, he thought before saying that he was alone just as they had requested out loud. "We will _negotiate_ your terms, shinobi," Minato continued with the same intimidating tone, "Don't forget who you're speaking to."

The enemy jounin snarled and replied, "Very well," without the countenance to fight back. It was obvious, however, that the reply was made to appease the Yellow Flash if only for the time being. Even the strongest of foes abhorrently refused to fight with the man.

Yamaguchi jumped in front of Minato who still appeared totally unfazed. His hands created and formed a series of strange hand seals in a rapid combination that if Kakashi was not prepared with his Sharingan eye, he would not have memorized them quickly enough. After his hands finished moving, the man clapped three times and said in a whisper, "The rock's rain eliminates our enemies under the solid rule of the stone's great shadow." Jiraya smirked as he made note of the password.

A black swirl began to form in the middle of the boulder formation from the very center. It started small and circular, than it seemed to melt away into a circle portal that only looked dark and obscure from afar; not a trace of light had shone through. Just as the duo was about to go through the entrance, Kakashi observed the quiet and unnoticed gesture his teacher had given him: two fingers as if pointing downward at his side as a Hirashin seal stealthily slid down to the very spot he was standing on, and then they watched as their village's fourth and respected leader stepped through after following the Iwa jounin and with a distinctive _pop _the hole dissolved in on itself as speedily as it came and the two figures vanished from sight.

Jiraya and Kakashi waited ten minutes, eyeing their surroundings to make sure that no one was watching, and when they were sure that they were completely alone, the two set out to begin the reckless mission they had set out to do, aware that even if they succeeded, it would guarantee a small army of Iwa shinobi chasing them in an irregular trail.

"The rock's rain eliminates our enemies under the solid rule of the stone's great shadow," Kakashi murmured after the Legendary Sannin told him what to say after he performed the memorized hand seals, and like just minutes before, the portal opened for them and they followed the Hokage inside.

ooo

Minato and the enemy walked the halls in silence on abandoned train tracks in a cool and semi-dank feeling tunnel, but the air was mostly dry. Off to their side was an overturned metal cart that once was used on the tracks to bring around piles of stone out of the mine. The walls were covered in strips and planks of rotting wood and torches that were secured tightly against the wall lined the hallways. Minato supposed (and was entirely grateful) that this fact signified that there was a lack of bad air in this particular old mine that many seemed to have buildup of.

The fire danced and flickered on the surface of the rugged tracks they were stepping over and the rocks casted interesting shapes upon the floor. Poking through the ceiling planks were tiny stalactites, some looking brittle and as if they were about to collapse.

They made multiple turns and Minato hoped that the tracking seal he had placed on his person would be enough for his teacher and his student to keep an eye out for his movements. Radio communication would not be effective in a mountain as enclosed spaces such as this one had the annoying tendency to interfere with the signal.

After a few minutes of silence Yamaguchi stopped in front of a cut-out looking door that was surely placed there after the mine was abandoned. His dirty hand grasped the rusty knob and he turned it, revealing a barren room with a few metal stools and a low, dusty wooden table near the center. Around the room was a group of ragtag shinobi, both male and female, but all clearly from Iwa.

A muscular man with a scar marring his firm chin scowled immediately when Minato entered and subsequently spat at his feet, staining the ground Minato was about to step on with saliva.

"It's _you_," the man stated bitterly while raising a fist, "_You. _Yellow Flash!" His fist unclenched and he grabbed a fistful of Minato's jounin vest, dragging the blond closer to him in an attempt to intimidate. The Hokage's face remained expressionless and utterly unafraid in the entire ordeal, not in the slightest bit worried that his life was supposedly being threatened.

"You _bastard_! It's because of you that my mother died of heartache, that my father couldn't bear to look at me without thinking of my twin brother! _Murderer_! Scum! I'll—" and he was about to bring back his other fist when a green eyed woman swiftly held the arm back.

"Riku," the woman ninja said calm. "Remember what I said before. Stay calm. You're making a fool out of yourself in front of a powerful adversary that even many other kages cannot hope to defeat." In response, he roughly dropped Minato, who did not even stumble as he stood up straight again, his gaze piercing like an icepick striking through the thin layers of hoarfrost.

The female nodded and bowed to him, saying, "I am sorry for my colleague's incompetence, Lord Hokage." But with slightly more narrowed eyes and a colder voice she further elaborated, "However, I cannot blame him. You did kill my mother and her entire squad."

"We live in the world of the shinobi," Minato responded coolly. "Surely you haven't been forced to kill before, and in turn their loved ones see _you _as the murderer?"

It was a rhetorical question, one that was not meant for an answer, but if possible, the emerald gaze of the woman only hardened and she seemed to have absolutely lost the air of composure that had resonated around her like an aura before.

The tension was so thick in the air that it could be cut clean through like a stick of butter with a blunt knife and the remaining bystanders glared at their common enemy with pure hatred and contempt. Riku's lip curled over his teeth, forming a nasty glower. The room was simmering with utter malice, none of them unwavering in their outright abhorrence for each other. Not even Minato, who was known throughout the nations as a coldhearted killer that could instill fear within a person from just looking at them could seem to intimidate any of these ninja enough.

Yamaguchi cleared his throat and suddenly many of the shinobi were brought back to reality from their dark thoughts.

"The _Hokage_," he said with malevolence laced in his tenor as he gestured his arm toward the blond, "wishes to…ah…_negotiate_ our terms." Laughter resounded in the dark room at that comment.

"How _interesting _and _humorous _of him to suggest such a lovely little thing," the self-proclaimed leader of the Stone's avengers persisted, "Such an amusing request of yours, Namikaze. I would have never expected a well-rounded shinobi such as yourself to have a talent in the area of comedy.

"I'm laughing. I really am," he added at last with an expressionless façade. If one stood in the disfigured man's presence, they would have felt a shiver travel down their spine and a frosty prickling at the edges of their fingertips as the hairs on their arms rose.

The Fourth did not say a word, only choosing to stare down Nobu Yamaguchi as he clearly refused to take his offer. It was no matter of consequence however. He did not expect that part of the plan to work out in the ideal fashion in the first place. If there was one thing a ninja learned right off the bat and even as a green genin, it was that if an enemy really did despise you, there was no such thing as a "negotiation." There were only things like "kill or be killed" that truly existed.

But at a time like this one, his nerves were frayed and somehow he couldn't hold all of his emotions in any longer. Minato took one look at one particular snickering shinobi—a chuunin—and forcibly pressed him hard up against the wall, startling the young man and angering many fellows.

"Where is he?!" he shouted in an uncharacteristic manner. His fist tightened on the man's clothing and the Iwa ninja's vest was brutally being crumpled. His blue eyes were twinkling in an unnamed emotion. "Where is Naruto? What have you done with him?"

A flying punch came whizzing towards the Hokage's head, but he quickly ducked and shoved the vulnerable body of the poor chuunin he was gripping onto in front of the poised knuckles and the boy grunted as the punch made contact with his lower back rather than its intended target. Minato then swiped out one of his legs and tripped the man who made an attempt to attack him off of his feet, and then subsequently he pushed the body of the chuunin upon the wall again, eyes flashing once more with a strange emotion as the other shinobi did not dare to assault him afterwards. Instead the offender struggled with wobbling arms to stand back up while the others observed. Yamaguchi had whipped out a kunai in retaliation.

"Tell me where he is and I'll spare your lives," Minato went on as he stared deeply into the Stone chuunin's eyes, the undertones of desperation licking at his irises that few would take the moment to notice.

As if on cue, the young shinobi's eyes widened with a look of realization and he turned away from him, his face twisting into something akin to shock and horror. No one else seemed to take note of the unusual motion.

"H—He's here," the young man began much to the surprise of some of the witnesses, "In a cell. Just down the—"

And then a shuriken embedded itself in his neck and the man was gurgling blood. Minato had let him slide alongside the wall he was pressed upon with a grim expression. "Why?" the youth whispered and Yamaguchi sauntered up to the man with a scowl upon his features saying, "Because you were about to betray our cause," and he stepped his sandal onto the shuriken already stuck near his jugular and it sank further in until the chuunin's eyes rolled up to the back of his head and then he stopped moving altogether, one last choking noise rising from his throat and a splutter of red shooting out in gruesome splatters onto the front of his vest.

No one dared to speak a word until Yamaguchi turned to look at the Fourth Hokage.

"How troublesome," he said to the Namikaze, "I suppose now you know that your brat is here." Then he looked to the green-eyed woman known as Midori and told her to fetch the "fucking demon," to which Minato narrowed his eyes.

Minutes passed that seemed like an eternity and still no one uttered anything. Then, as if an echo vibrated through a cave, the sound of the battered door creaking open filled their ears. At the moment it opened, a blond and small boy tumbled through it, his cheeks dirty with grime and his tiny wrists were tied roughly with a thick rope behind his back. His left ankle was noticeably swollen and even as he tried to step onto the other side without hurting it further, his attempts were completely ignored as Midori thrust him onto the ground while he made an alarmed "oof" noise.

Minato, not caring that he was certainly breaking about fifty shinobi rules, made to help him up, but was stopped when Yamaguchi placed his arm in front of him and the Iwa woman grabbed the four-year-old by the hair and pointed a shiny and sharp kunai beneath his neck, his body all the while trembling in anxiety.

"If you make one move, Minato Namikaze," spat Yamaguchi, "Midori has orders to kill the boy in front of your eyes. Shall we allow that to happen?" Another kunai was being twirled on one of the leader's fingers.

"Let him go," the father responded with barely hidden anger.

Naruto was shivering as his face was pressed against the dirt and innocently he opened his azure eyes, eyes that were so much like his father's, and stared back at Minato as if peering directly into his soul. The older blond felt his heart clench painfully in his chest. The boy whimpered and his gaze seemed slightly off and glazed. He appeared feverish and Minato wanted nothing more than to save him from that agonizing-looking grip at that moment in time.

"Give us your life," Yamaguchi suggested cruelly, "and we'll let your son live."

In a moment of near-blind hesitation, Minato asked if they were doing this on the Tsuchikage's orders.

"We work for our own desires," the adversary replied. "Now, give us your answer."

A trickle of blood rolled down Naruto's exposed and pallid neckline as the kunai had made a threatening nick on the child's throat. At the sight, the Hokage's head started to throb. All he could see was coated in a hue of red. Minato had never been so furious in his life. In fact, just simply seeing his son this way made him feel and reveal so many emotions that he would have normally easily hid in the midst of battle. He felt weak, drained. He did not feel nearly as legendary as Konoha and the rest of the world thought him to be.

A dry sob escaped in the form of a deafening and haunting sound from his son. "I want …_home_…" he cried out desperately with such a deep sadness and distress that it could rip at heartstrings easily.

That did it for the Yellow Flash. He knew he could not die. His village needed him. His wife and his son needed him. If he died, Naruto was sure to live a harsh half-life in the Village Hidden in the Stones where he would be hated and looked down upon like the filth on the bottom of a man's boot, like trash, like a monster, like the very demon sealed away inside him. He couldn't have that. Not Naruto.

And so, he disappeared in a flash of light.

Less than a second later his form appeared just behind Midori as he honed his skills by using the Flying Thunder God Technique, the technique that earned him his nickname in the shinobi world. The seal that he had integrated upon his son's Eight Trigrams Seal called to him like a beacon, a thunder rod, and before anyone could so much as twitch, the woman ninja's kunai had gracefully flown out of her hand and away from Naruto's susceptible throat, and she was immediately breathless and blacked out on the floor. The younger blond collapsed forward but Minato caught him and laid him out gently before flickering away once again.

The next victim was Yamaguchi. He was out before he could throw another shuriken. The Hokage needed at least this man alive, as much as it probably physically pained him to do so. There were interrogations that had to be done, and so the seal that he had placed on the ground near the enemy's foot activated.

Then in another shower of gold, Riku found himself slumped in a corner, unconscious. Some tried to fight back, futilely flinging weapons about, but not one of them hit their rapidly moving target. Minato did not even need to use his signature move for the rest of them. His skills were so far superior to these men and women that he appeared to look like his moniker whenever he moved.

The older blond roundhouse kicked a middle-aged man in the head, then swiveled around to tiger palm another on his unsuspecting chest. A teenaged girl tried to stab him with some form of earth style technique, but he had already jumped forward and pickaxed her on her shoulder blade, the force knocking her back and onto the wooden table in the room, causing her to instantly lose consciousness.

Only a moment into the apparently one-sided battle, the door burst forth and out of it came Kakashi and Jiraya who had followed Minato via the tracking seal.

"Ah," the toad summon master smirked, "I suppose this is the reckless and unpredictable part of the plan." Then he flipped into the fray, grabbing a faceless shinobi by forcing a callused palm onto the man's forehead and propelling his head onto the seat of a nearby metal chair. Kakashi had elbowed another in the stomach close by.

In less than two minutes the enclosed room was silent again. No one spoke a word because every opponent that they knew of was either unconscious or dead. Only three shinobi were left standing and each took a moment to catch their breath. Then, just as they thought everything was over for that moment, Minato's senses caused him to react. There were two more hiding crouched in a dark corner behind them. How had he not noticed?

One of them, a brunette young female chuunin with a bob cut tried to rush to the side of the heavily breathing Naruto with a young man who was wearing horn-rimmed glasses close by her heels. Kakashi instantaneously stood in their way, protectively standing between them and the prone boy lying on the floor.

"Not another move," the Hatake growled threateningly.

The girl blinked, halting in her tracks. She raised her hands into the air in an act of surrender and as did her companion behind her.

"Please," she begged softly, "I promise we only want to help. I have bandages in my pack."

"How do I know we can trust you?"

The man behind her almost twitched in slight fear, but did not dare to move a muscle. Then he bowed his head and closed his eyes. "Yamaguchi killed our best friend," he alleged. "He's a cruel man and he won't stop at anything to get his way, no matter what. I admit that we originally thought that his cause was a good one in the beginning, but then he started to kill our comrades left and right if he so much as thought that they were going to betray us, even without valid proof."

The girl had tears in her eyes. "Yes," she added to that statement, "Kazehaya was our childhood friend. We were thinking of leaving the group already all together, but…" A strangled sob left her mouth then, "…please. His death was the last straw. If Kazehaya wanted to help the Yellow Flash, he must have had a good reason for it," and her gaze turned meaningfully upon Minato.

Though Jiraya and Kakashi had no idea what she was alluding to, the Namikaze did. He had thought that the coldhearted murder of a comrade like that was beyond a crime. Even an enemy should never commit something as grisly as that. You were to always trust and respect your comrades.

"He saw something in you," she told them. "I know he did. And I…I see something I never thought I could see in the eyes of who I thought was my enemy before too."

Minato shut his eyelids and breathed in. "Very well," he muttered in a quiet yet commanding tone.

The silver-haired jounin reluctantly allowed them to pass, all the while keeping a steady onyx eye on their backs.

The girl had bent over little Naruto while the male stood behind her in observance. She took off her small pack that was standard for all shinobi off of her lower back and unhooked it. She clicked it open and took out a roll of pristine white bandages. As she did so, one of her hands started to glow green with chakra and Kakashi jumped, but Minato held him back. She was a medical ninja it seemed.

The four-year-old who was sprawled uncomfortably upon the ground whimpered and murmured something along the lines of, "Miss Mai," pointing to the fact that she had helped the boy before. She had placed her hands on his swollen ankle and a tingling sensation travelled up his leg as she attempted to heal some of it.

"I'm sorry," the female apologized. "I'm not quite a skilled medic yet, so this is the best I could do." The swelling had only gone down slightly and the ankle was a light pink as opposed to the angry red it was before. She gently wrapped the bandage tightly around it in order to keep the broken appendage still as he healed before it was placed into proper care. Naruto gasped out in pain and "Miss Mai" grimaced.

Minato took note of the fact that the Kyuubi was probably weak also, as it seemed to not be healing Naruto at the expected rapid rate as a consequence for being the host. It was probably because of the fact that the boy looked gaunt and slightly malnourished.

"It's alright, Naru-chan," she said in a soothing voice as he calmed down. She turned to look at the Hokage who was observing with a glazed expression in his eyes from mere feet away. "Take him home. He's innocent in all this. I'm sorry for all the trouble we have caused you. Take Yamaguchi back to Konoha and whoever else you need. I promise we won't resist and if some of them do, my partner and I will try to hold them back as long as possible. I won't go back on my word."

Minato nodded and lowered himself to where Naruto was. The child looked up with widened orbs.

"Not daddy…not daddy…not daddy," he mumbled as if in a daze. "You're not daddy…you hate me…daddy is home…daddy is home…not daddy…"

Minato touched the boy's arm and he flinched away, a haunted look in his eye. Tears leaked from the corners of his eyelids and he began to sniffle.

"No, no," he rambled out, his eyebrows knit together in fretfulness. "You're the mean man. Not daddy…"

Minato's fingers began to shake slightly. How could his own son not believe him? How could he not recognize him? Had they done this to him? Had they warped his mind in the past week to the point where he was terrified of his own father's form? Then it hit him like a ton of bricks. Of course. How cruel. How insensitive and hellish. What a repulsive type of torture, especially to the too-believing mind of a young child.

The Fourth took a deep breath, letting out a half-gasp in despondency. "I promise, Naruto. I'm not an illusion. I'm not a genjutsu. It's me," he said softly and he let his hand caress the boy's cherubic cheek, "It _is _daddy. I'm going to take you home to mom and Sasuke and Itachi, Kakashi, Jiraya, and even some ramen. You'd like that, wouldn't you?"

Cerulean met cerulean and for a moment the world seemed to stop on its tilted axis.

"I'll even carry you all the way to the Hokage Tower. How would you like that?"

Naruto shuddered and Minato pulled him close. Warmth filled the boy's heart. This man felt different. The warmth felt genuine. There was no immediate slap to his face afterwards. After all, the mean man never once mentioned his friends or his mom from the Leaf Village. He had never mentioned anything about the Hokage Tower, and for once in seven days, Naruto felt loved and safe and sound.

"Really daddy," he shakily slurred into his father's chest and he started to tremble uncontrollably. His breaths came in short gasps and Minato felt his jounin flak jacket grow damp and wet. Naruto's tiny fists clenched securely onto the fabric and as much as he attempted to hold back his relieved wails, he could hardly suppress them. His face pressed more deeply into his father's chest and Minato placed his chin directly on top of his son's soft, downy hair.

"Let's go home," the father said and he felt the child nod as he held him tighter.

He stood up, Naruto sobbing in a miserable childish manner in his arms. Kakashi and Jiraya both stood at attention on either side of their leader. Jiraya held a thoroughly tied up Nobu Yamaguchi over his shoulders, multiple paper seals strewn across his body, his eyes, and his mouth. The man would not be moving for a while. A light shuffling could be heard behind them and they noticed that Midori had begun to regain consciousness. A sense of urgency filled their minds and they glanced back at "Miss Mai" and her partner, who stood with their backs to them, kunai out and in a defensive position, ready to stall for the four Konoha shinobi.

"Thank you," Minato softly whispered and the three plus Naruto sprinted out of the door to get to a closer shot at the Hiraishin seal that was planted outside of the boulder entrance of the hideout.

Just as the men left, Mai faced her partner. "Maybe it was us that were wrong. All of us, including the Yellow Flash, were forced into a war that we had to fight. And for what? We lost lives, families, friends, _people, _and maybe there were some mad men out there that wanted nothing else but to kill. I used to think that the Yellow Flash was one of those mad men, until I saw his face just now. Did you see his eyes?"

The male shinobi sighed at the comment. "He wanted his kid back. Nothing more, nothing less. Maybe…maybe a guy like him is human too."

And the two Iwa nins prepared to fight.

Outside as the Konoha shinobi were meters away and had already turned a few corners, the ceiling shook and pebbles fell along with miniscule stalactites. An explosion had occurred somewhere behind them. They heard a grunt and numerous voices yelling in the hallways.

Then, a distinct bellow of "Mai! No!" was heard and then the voice was consequently cut off with a surprised sloshing noise and the sound of a short sword being forcibly yanked out of someone's midriff echoed on the rock walls. There was an odd and eerie slash and a slice and a thud. It sounded as if a head had just rolled in a splotchy mess upon the earth.

Minato's face was forbidding and Naruto was sobbing harder now, panic clamping his insides. The father gripped onto his son like a lifeline and the latter did so as well.

They turned one more corner and the torches flickered darkly around them. Finally, the Fourth told his teacher and student to hold onto his shoulders tightly and told Naruto not to let go no matter what, and then they vanished in a single flash in less than a second just as the abandoned mine began to quake in a more pronounced fashion. It was as if they were never there.

The four of them appeared just outside the hideout and near the illusionary boulder. Without bothering to look to see what was going on behind them, the group rushed down the sides of Yutaka Mountain using their chakra to hold them on for meters down sloping sides and rocks in a hurry until they were able to slip down into a valley in minutes, not even realizing that their mad dash would have been suicide to anyone else less skilled then they. Luckily, their destination to leave the mountain range was not horribly far away as Yutaka Mountain was just at the edge of Grass and Stone.

They ran adjacent to a coursing and thin river, rocks spewing forth from the mountains as they once again experienced the "rock rain" phenomena. Dead and once-green shrubbery scratched at their thighs and night had fully settled in. The air was dry and dusty and it caused Naruto to cough through his stress induced slumber. He had passed out because of sheer exhaustion and extreme stress mere minutes preciously.

They head people running down the side of the mountains, frantically trying to find them. Minato nodded at Kakashi, who lifted his forehead protector to reveal his Sharingan. Then he murmured, "Hidden Forest Technique," and to those affected by the genjutsu, the scenery rippled and warped into a valley forest. The shinobi chasing them would be lost for days.

For hours they ran and they ran so fast that they had effortlessly made it out into the plains of Grass Country within a seemingly impossible timeframe. Then it was the early hours of the morning and the sun was just beginning to break through the horizon, the sky transforming from an ink black into a stormy gray.

At that point, Naruto was breathing more heavily than before. Minato frowned worriedly as he felt the heat radiating from his son who he had transferred to ride on his back hours ago. He was shaking slightly and the Hokage observed that his skin appeared flushed and pale.

He unexpectedly stood still in the middle of a grass clearing at the edge of a forest full of oak trees. Noticing his lack of movement, Jiraya was next to stop and then Kakashi.

"Let's camp here in the woods for a while," he suggested.

When Kakashi was about to protest, the Sannin gave him a look that stopped the teen from uttering another word. "Your teacher's right," the taller man agreed. "_We_ may be able to run for three days straight all the way back to the village but this little guy," and he pointed a thumb in the direction of Naruto while his other arm still somehow held onto the body of Yamaguchi, "won't be able to survive nonstop travel. Not in his state."

Kakashi grunted in resignation.

The three began to move around to the edge of the forest, trying to set up a temporary camp for the sake of their prone charge. Jiraya had carelessly dropped off his prisoner under a nearby oak and the man made absolutely no sound whatsoever, the seals on his figure performing their task quite well.

Minato had leaned his son gently against a fallen log. His usually confident and careful gaze was troubled. He knew he really should have been helping his teacher and student with the distribution of the rations and refilling their water canteens, but he sat there anyway, cross-legged and staring at the feverish face of Naruto who was shivering as if it was freezing outside in the middle of winter.

The Namikaze felt a hand grip one of his shoulders. It was Jiraya.

"Don't worry about anything else until we arrive back in the village," the Sannin told his former student. "The brat and I will take care of everything. We'll both take watch."

Minato looked back with an appalled countenance on his face and was about to say something about his opinion on the matter when Jiraya instantly silenced him with a slashing gesture of his arm.

The white-haired man sighed. "Look, I understand that you want to help Minato. I know you all too well. But your help is needed elsewhere right now. Take this time to act solely as a father and not as a shinobi or a kage. When we get back to Konoha, then you can worry about everything else." His gaze softened. "Naruto needs you."

With that lingering thought Jiraya tossed him a filled water canteen and turned back to Kakashi, who was trying (but failing) to discreetly observe their conversation. The silver-haired jounin nodded once at his approaching companion and they continued their work, whispering in coarse voices.

Meanwhile, the Hokage took all if the advice in. He blinked a couple of times and went back to looking at his son. He seemed so cold and scared, so suddenly defenseless, so unlike the fiery ball of energy he usually was when he was joyful and happy. Minato wanted that happiness to return so badly it hurt. He sifted through his memories just to remember that brilliant smile that always made him swell up with pride to see. He wanted that. He wanted Naruto to smile again, if only just for a second. He did not want to see his son like this, when he was crying and so dearly afraid and heartbroken.

With a bittersweet smirk, Minato took off his flak jacket, revealing his dark blue turtleneck shirt underneath. He folded the vest in half, attempting to fluff it out, and placed it on the ground. He gently replaced Naruto into a more comfortable laying down position and shifted the child's head so that it rested on the makeshift pillow. Nonetheless, Naruto still shivered violently.

"You're cold, aren't you, Naruto?" he questioned, but the boy did not answer. Instead he curled up into a ball, trying to contain what little heat he felt in his body.

"You have a fever," said Minato even though he knew he would receive no response from his sleeping son and he brushed his fingers on the fringes of the youngest Namikaze's bangs.

With his head bowed, the father thought of a single idea that he hoped would help his son. He tilted the head of the four-year-old up to let him drink some water out of the canteen. Then he bent over and lay right next to the jinchuuriki and hugged the little boy close to his person, in hopes of transferring some of his body heat to him with the obvious lack of a blanket or a proper bed for that matter.

The boy instinctively shifted closer to the source of warmth and buried his head into Minato's chest like he did hours ago.

"That's a little better, isn't it?" he whispered down to the child but the evening only echoed on.

Behind them and watching from a not-too-far-away area, Jiraya grinned and glanced over at the Hatake sitting next to him.

"You've never seen your sensei like that before, have you?" he asked the teenager, who only resolved to stare intensely at the scene. "Well, I can't say I have either."

Kakashi narrowed his uncovered onyx eye in contemplation. "Why would someone do that, Jiraya-sama? Do something like that to an innocent kid, I mean."

The breeze withered by them and the grass and leaves rustled in the wind. The night seemed to grow colder somehow, a noticeable drop in temperature that could only be impossible because it happened so precipitously. A lizard crawled out from under a rock and rapidly switched its positions so that it would climb on top of it instead of hiding below its confines for that time. An owl hooted in the distance.

Jiraya sighed. "Like I said before to Minato, 'We're shinobi. We live for battle and conflict, don't we?' But like your teacher said to me in admittedly even more wise words, 'When one person thinks they are rebuilding the world, another believes it is being destroyed…'" He clenched a fist and nodded his head toward the still prisoner of Yamaguchi. "Take that guy over there. He thought the world did him wrong because of a certain man that the rest of Konoha sees as a hero, and he became what he thinks is a noble avenger."

Kakashi frowned. "That doesn't seem right."

"Of course it's not," the man continued unfazed. "To everyone else that is. To him, it's completely right. Don't tell me you didn't want nothing more than to slaughter that Iwa shinobi that killed your teammate?"

The teen turned away without a response hanging in the air.

The Sannin smirked bitterly. "Don't get me wrong. I've felt it too, this uncontrollable hatred and a desire to have revenge. But what makes it difficult is that we live this kind of life. We _are_ shinobi. Look at your teacher for a moment," and he pointed to Minato for a second before replacing his arm at his side. "A Hokage, and a damn good one too. He's talented; he's intelligent, a genius like you even. But even the strongest have a weakness, brat."

They left the clearing in the daytime in the hours before noon bound for Konoha. It took them another day and a half to arrive back into the village and by the time they had reached their destination it was at another ungodly hour in the morning.

They were greeted at the gate by the guards and Naruto was brought to the hospital, a frantic Kushina arriving soon afterwards.

It was still the early hours right before dawn and the sun had not quite risen yet, though the sky was graying from its previous pitch black while Kakashi and Minato sat. The waiting room of the Konoha hospital was jarringly quiet and two men, master and student, sat seemingly serene on the same four-person couch. Not a sound resounded, not a whisper, nor a wisp of wind hushed; it was so silent that if one could listen carefully you could hear the flutter of a dragonfly's wings just outside the windowpane.

"I always knew it was a risk," the Fourth Hokage spoke softly, tentatively breaking the silence.

"I'm afraid I don't understand what you mean, sensei," Kakashi replied solemnly.

A bittersweet smile graced his lips as the blond man continued, "Having a family. It's a shinobi's greatest weakness. I knew that then, I know that now, and so do you and everyone else in this village." He sighed, appearing much older than he truly was, "But, I would never take it back…and I suppose, that's the greatest weakness of them all…"

The silver-haired jounin chose not to say a word. After all, what could he say to something like that? It was an unthinkable answer, practically impossible. He may have been considered a genius alongside his teacher, but he was never above par when it came to profoundness. Speechlessness came on instinct more often than not and so the Hatake kept his mouth shut.

But he had to admit, understanding burst inside him. The words Jiraya had shared with him a few nights ago rang in his mind.

The older man breathed out again, feeling the weight of the previous day's happenings come to crush his shoulders. "…It's ironic, really. Having a family, although it's a shinobi's greatest weakness, it's also his greatest strength. You can't have one without the other, and in the end, a shinobi's code is once again rendered null and void."

A shuffling noise sounded and the door leading to room 605 opened to reveal a tired and baggy-eyed Kushina. "Our son wants you, Minato," she said tiredly, "He said he wants his mom and dad together with him."

Then, with pained and concerned eyes, the Uzumaki woman added, "He's scared. I think he wants to be reassured that we won't disappear again."

With a deep sigh and crinkled eyebrows, Minato glanced over at his student, a meaningful look shining in his irises, and gazed back to the red-headed woman with a reply resting on his lips, "Yes. We should be there. Together."

And he rose up from his place on the lumpy hospital couch and both parents walked side-by-side whilst closing the door behind them. With Kakashi's superior hearing skills, he swore he could hear the distinct sound of muffled giggling coming from a very happy four-year-old boy, and faintly, as if in the back of his mind, he felt as though Naruto's parents _did_ leave him behind once so that they could never come back…

**AN: Extra-long chapter just for you guys. It's about 27 pages. This was a long story arc for one chapter. However, this story is not over. I know exactly how I want **_**Upside-Down Hourglass **_**to end.**

**Coming up next…**

**Chapter Four: Friends and Enemies**

_**Naruto's first days at the Academy.**_


	4. Friends and Enemies

**AN: Extra chapter notes: **_**Mayonaka **_**means "midnight." **_**Noriko **_**means "the rule."**

**Japanese educational systems typically have a trimester system that begins in late March or early April. That is the system that they would most likely use in Konoha and it is also the same system that I will be using in this story. **

**Disclaimer: Do I really have to do this again? **_**Naruto**_** is not mine. (Sadly.)**

**Chapter Four:  
>Friends and Enemies<strong>

"_Do not confuse love for apathy or kindness for hatred. Do not think that only your war is justified in the eyes of the world. Do not try to pretend to understand something that cannot be understood without experience. And when you have accepted humankind for the way it is, do not ever believe that there is nothing beyond that bit of darkness in your heart without learning to hope."_

* * *

><p>"Sasuke! Your cat hates me!" A six-year-old Naruto Namikaze bellowed at his best friend. "It's trying to <em>eat <em>me!"

The sounds of giggling filled the confines of the Uchiha Compound. It was well past midafternoon in the Village Hidden in the Leaves and the cool winds of early April wafted through the floorboards in a pleasant manner. Greenery lined the front lawns of many houses throughout the village and especially in the Uchiha District in which most, if not all, the homes were nicely furnished and often modestly decorated with items that seemed to exemplify the Uchiha Clan's riches, but not outright flaunt them.

In the backyard of the clan leader, Fugaku Uchiha's home, a little blond boy was struggling with a purely black cat that seemed to enjoy nipping at his heels while an eleven-year-old preteen chuckled good-naturedly in the background clutching his stomach, and another little boy of Naruto's same age was blinking in bewilderment and sniggering at the same time.

"Naruto," the child addressed replied, "I think Mayonaka likes her new scratching post."

"Ah! What are you talking about? I'm not a scratching post!" the Fourth Hokage's son yelled back.

Sasuke smirked. "Yeah you are!"

"Am not!"

Naruto flung out his arms and subsequently tripped on his own feet, landing with an ungraceful _thump _upon the emerald grass and sneezing when his nose made contact with the pollen that had fallen on the ground as a result of the springtime and the trees' (annoying) yearly reproduction cycle. Sighing, he turned over so that his back was on the floor, but Mayonaka the cat climbed up and curled on his belly. The Namikaze pouted.

Instead of attempting to hide his own obvious mirth, Sasuke's elder brother, Itachi , began to outright burst with laughter.

The youngest Uchiha pointed at the feline that made itself comfortable on top of his childhood friend and grinned. "You're right. You're not a post. You're a big Naru-pillow."

Naruto huffed as Mayonaka purred and lifted her head to gaze her dark jade eyes at her oddly joyful owners and pawed her newfound "pillow" as if marking him as her personal possession. He grumbled in annoyance and in response the animal decided it would be prudent for her to rub her head against his abdomen, to which the boy did not find amusing or pleasant at all.

There was the sound of a sliding door in the background of wood against wood. The rice paper that made up the rectangular panes in the doorway rustled and three pairs of footsteps pounded lightly on the floor panels. Noticing the newcomers, Itachi turned around and bowed respectfully to the people that had arrived in their backyard while Sasuke continued making teasing jabs at his friend and Naruto complained.

The Fourth Hokage inclined his head at the gesture that the oldest Uchiha brother displayed and Fugaku nodded approvingly at his son while the clan leader's wife, Mikoto, raised her dark eyebrows and smiled.

"Your son is ever formal and polite, Fugaku," Minato observed. "You train your children well. I'm sure Sasuke will be more than ready for his first day at the Academy tomorrow."

"Certainly, Hokage-sama," the Uchiha's father replied. "I can only hope that both my sons will someday do you and this village proud. Itachi has undoubtedly proven himself, and with his help, Sasuke will soon be on the path to greatness as well." The dark-haired man smirked and looked pointedly at the Hokage's son and went on, "Though I have absolutely no doubts in my mind that your own son will be a force to reckon with in the future. He is, after all, the product of the Yellow Flash and the Red-Hot Habanero."

"Ah, you flatter me yet again," the Fourth laughed.

Fugkaku folded his arms across his chest, watching as his eldest son was trying to coax the family pet off of the squirming blond boy. "If I am not mistaken, you have flattered me and my family time and again as well. We are grateful to you, especially after what happened six years ago."

Minato narrowed his cerulean eyes at that particular thought. Even as time had passed him by and that night six years ago was approaching a future when it would become a decade ago, the memories never ceased to unnerve him, albeit somewhere in the back of his mind.

He remembered that mysterious masked man and how he had disappeared from sight just as suddenly as he appeared and how the Uchiha Clan was wrongfully accused of being the culprits of the attack when it was clearly one shadowy figure's fault. He remembered the feeling he felt when he thought he would lose all that he had worked so hard for; he might have lost his wife and his newborn child and his position of Hokage and the village. Though, he supposed he should have counted himself lucky. Though Naruto being the Nine-Tails' jinchuuriki was definitely less than ideal, he was alive and so was Kushina. They could raise their son.

As he surveyed his son who was now laughing happily while his best friend chased him around whilst holding the black cat out in his arms as if pretending to threaten to release the animal on him, Minato felt that strange feeling again, like he could not shake the notion that he really should not be able to witness these precious moments. But right as it came, the weird sensation vanished.

The Hokage grinned and yelled out that it was time for dinner and for Naruto to go home. Kushina said she was waiting after all. She was not a patient woman and would grow intensely irritated if supper got too cold.

"Hey, hey, Sasuke," Naruto nudged the youngest Uchiha brother, "You and Itachi-nii wanna come over for dinner? Mom said she was cooking some ramen and she told me to ask if I had the chance! That means big bowls!"

Sasuke rubbed that back of his head and glanced sheepishly at his mother who only smiled back. "Of course that woman would make extra ramen noodles on the first day before school for you boys," she responded as she rolled her eyes. Mikoto gestured at Fugaku and added, "Of course it's fine with me, that is, if your father has any qualms about the offer…"

The dark-haired man nodded at his son. "You are always welcome to eat with Hokage-sama's family if invited."

Minato raised a blond eyebrow. "Wait. So I don't have any say in this?"

The group laughed soundly at the comment.

After hearing that Sasuke and his brother were allowed to eat dinner in the Namikaze household that night, the boys immediately became riled up and exited. Mikoto and Fugkau waved them off and told their sons to be back before nine in the evening and that Itachi was responsible for his younger sibling.

That led to an odd bunch walking down the streets of the village. The esteemed Hokage was leading the three children down the road as civilians and shinobi alike shot them curious glimpses. Naruto and Sasuke were eagerly guessing about what they would learn first in the Academy, ("We're going to be shinobi like our families!"), and Itachi strode silently in the rear.

The boys thought and talked about Konoha's Ninja Academy for the past few days almost constantly. As the date of the first day of school drew nearer, the enthusiasm had boiled up until it was practically overflowing like an overcooked pot of soup.

The Academy! It was often called the epitome of a ninja's childhood. It was where youths learned the basics of their incoming skills. It was where children would surely make lasting friends and maybe even lasting enemies. It was the stronghold of the future generations, the place where a ninja, be it genin, chuunin, jounin, or even kage-level, would look back on and accept as their first real form of training. It was where they would learn how to defend themselves and the Hidden Village they loved.

How wonderful! How exciting! What a wondrous beginning of a dream!

"Ah! I can't wait to start training to be a strong ninja like you and mom tomorrow, dad!" Naruto jumped animatedly while his father pumped his chakra into the security seals he had placed for protection all over the Hokage Mansion. (He would _not _tolerate what happened to his son when he was four _ever again_.)

"Remember, Naruto," he began as the mismatched group removed their sandals at the front entrance and entered the home, "Being strong also means you have to work your hardest and never give up, no matter what."

The boy beamed. "Yup! Sasuke and I won't give up, no matter what!"

Sasuke grunted in affirmation.

At that moment, the four new occupants in the Namikaze estate caught the most delicious whiff of noodles and salty seafood. A woman with lengthy crimson hair strode out into the main entranceway, oven mitts still covering her hands, and an enthusiastic grin on her face.

Kushina beamed at them and said, "I've been waiting for you slowpokes for almost an hour! C'mon, before the ramen gets too cold!" She frowned at Sasuke and Naruto and added, "You boys better eat up. You need a big meal to take you through your first day at the Academy tomorrow! I want you to show those chuunin instructors that you've got stuff!"

Naruto nodded happily and strode inside the family dining room like he built the place, his best friend and the other two males following close behind him.

The family plus the two Uchiha children ate heartily that night with the youngest Namikaze and his mother eating with the most gusto. After all, they had a contest of sorts and Naruto barely won with ten bowls of noodle goodness to nine and a half. The whole room was in a fit of laughter by the end of supper and the children were talking excitedly about the wonders of the next day and Minato only chided them slightly on being too enthused.

Almost two hours later, it was just before nine in the evening and the two Uchiha boys left with a lingering wave and a promise to meet up in the morning so that they could walk to school together. And after he watched them leave, Naruto turned to the kitchen to help clean up the dishes and to put the gigantic pot in the sink with the help of his father who chuckled when he witnessed his son struggle to carry a cooking utensil that was about half his size.

"Alright, Naru," the red-headed woman smiled. "It's time for bed!"

"Aw, but mom!" the boy complained.

A whacking noise reverberated in the hallways of the house and Minato sighed as he watched his wife's antics. Naruto was currently rubbing at a red mark on his forehead and pouting childishly while Kushina picked the child up by the shirt, a feral smirk on her face, and dragged him upstairs to his bedroom.

The Hokage couldn't help it. He snickered to himself and shook his head.

_Some things never change_, he thought. Then the blond glanced up the stairway and shouted, "Goodnight, Naruto!"

He heard a muffled reply in return and somehow, he could not seem to stop smiling.

ooo

_They were giving him those looks again. He knew them well, those cold, hard, stares that told him inwardly that he was _nothing _to them. He was nothing at all and those icy eyes were enough to tell him so. They were more than enough in fact for a six-year-old child because he felt in his heart of hearts, that maybe, for some reason, he might have deserved it from the moment he was born._

_He called it a fantastic hobby, this silly idea of elaborate pranking he pursued, but he knew there was something else underneath. There was another _true _purpose for his brash behavior, and if one could pick up on the subtle hints the kid threw around__—__how he turned away with a downcast gaze__—they would surely know._

_All of it, down to the slightest blue and orange tinges of paint splotched upon his cheeks, down to the obnoxious laughter directly after something bad had happened to him, to the constant running and the boisterous yelling for no apparent reason—all of it was a mask._

_And so this is where he found himself; he was stuck somewhere in-between. There were remnants of colorful paints from a recent successful prank job all over his clothes and golden locks, but peculiarly enough, the boy did not seem too happy at all._

"_I made you lunch today! Enjoy it!" A beaming mother handed a neatly wrapped bento box to the awaiting hands of her offspring while what looked to be the younger brother hopped up and down excitedly. _

"_Did you put my favorite into it, mom?" the older sibling asked with an anxious voice._

_The woman only chuckled, catching her child's hair in her palms as she ruffled it playfully. The boy scowled good-naturedly and grinned right after that. He got the message. Of course his mother would never forget to include the sweet eggs with his meal!_

_But in the background, you could see little Naruto who observed the scene with sad eyes. He couldn't help but feel a little envious of them. If there was one thing in the world that the village pariah wanted to know, it was how it felt like to have a family._

_He closed his cerulean eyes, clutching the now empty paint can in his pudgy little hand, and headed for home._

_What awaited him there was the Old Man, one of the few people in the village that certainly did not see the boy as some kind of disease or a disgusting piece of dog doings on the bottom of his sandal. Though, the wrinkled male did have a slightly disapproving look upon his features that Naruto knew all too well._

"_I know what you're gonna say," the blond began softly, "I shouldn't have__—__"_

_The Third Hokage cut him off with a stern expression. "You're right. You shouldn't have."_

_At that comment, the two peered at each other intently, azure meeting a dark brown hue. Although the little boy had never noticed it before, he seemed to suddenly take note of just how _old _the man appeared to be. He had prominent wrinkles running down his cheeks and light liver spots spotting the place under one of his eyes. His hair never looked so white before. But even with the added aging characteristics, his eyes said he had experienced things that might have aged him another decade or two._

"_However," the elder continued with an emotionless façade, "I did not come here to reprimand your actions." He stuck a withered hand into the folds of his formal cloak and pulled out an envelope, showing it to Naruto. "I have come to give you your monthly stipend. Spend it wisely."_

_With that, the current reigning leader of the village turned his back on the boy, arms folded gracefully behind his back, and began his walk to the exit of the tiny apartment. But as the child watched him start to depart, something in his chest clenched painfully. It was like he was watching someone leaving him behind for good, like watching someone leaving him _alone_._

_He didn't want to be alone._

"_Hey," Naruto said loudly. The aging man turned around with a quirked eyebrow, urging him to let whatever he was thinking out. _

_The blond sat on the tiled kitchen counter, nervously twiddling his thumbs, but eventually in a moment he had effectively mustered up enough courage to ask what he needed to and he looked up to the Hokage with a curious, yet determined countenance. _

"_Why don't I have a mom and dad?" he questioned somewhat quietly, and if he had seen the look on Sarutobi Hiruzen's face at that particular second, he would have thought that he had just witnessed the face of a man more ancient than the Sage of Six Paths himself. But, as quickly as the emotion came, it disappeared within the same lapse._

_The man sighed and answered, "I have told you this before, though it has been quite some time…"_

"_I know, ok? You're going to tell me about how the demon called the Nine-Tails ran amuck and a lot of people from the village died, including my mom and dad…" The boy shot up at the initial statement but then subsequently toned down significantly. "But that's not what I'm asking."_

_Sarutobi was dreading this question, but he knew it was inevitable. He knew it would come eventually._

"_Who were my parents?" Naruto asked, innocent eyes abruptly teary and pleading. The old man was almost tempted to give in to that look. He owed it to _them _after all…_

"_What kind of people were they?" the six-year-old added to the first inquiry. _

_In that moment the Third clearly saw Minato and Kushina in him. He saw his predecessor's firm resolve to protect and his wife's clean-cut willpower for vitality and life. He saw the joyfulness and excited anticipation they both had when they found out they were going to be parents. He saw both their hopes and dreams within one child and how his eyes gleamed with the distressed need to _know_. _

_Then the old man saw, in his mind's eye, the rushing in of the fox's massive claw, the heartbreaking fearful cries of a defenseless newborn, the desperation in both a mother and a father's entire beings, the way that the Third and two other ninja saw how ready they were__—__more than ready…ready to be the family they wanted to be…_

…_and how they protected their son._

_His resolution broke there. _

"_It is a foolish thing to question things like that," Sarutobi said without emotion, though he wished deep down that he could _tell the truth for once. _But he couldn't. He had to protect Minato's son for as long as he could. It was the least he could do for now._

_The Third bowed his head and turned his back on Naruto once again and went on, "It won't bring the dead back."_

_And the door snapped shut. He had ultimately left Naruto alone as the little child sprinted to the outer balcony to watch his old friend walk solemnly away from his run-down apartment and onto the dusty streets of a bustling Village Hidden in the Leaves. _

_His pupils followed the man until he was a distant white dot and he vanished upon the horizon. Naruto Uzumaki was alone again and he slowly sank to his knees, not even realizing that he was crying until his elbows were touching the concrete ground._

_And he was shaking…_

_Shaking…_

Shaking…

"Naruto! Wake up!" A concerned voice broke him out of a deep slumber.

Naruto blinked furiously as a lone ray of moonlight started to peek though the red-orange curtains of the square window of his bedroom. His face was oddly tear-stained and he was still sobbing as he sat up, his mother still frantically shaking his shoulders.

"What happened?" Kushina worriedly asked her son, abruptly stopping when she realized that he had fully awakened. "What's wrong? You've been crying so loudly in your sleep for a good half hour. Your dad and I couldn't wake you up until now!"

It was then that the Kyuubi's jinchuuriki finally saw that he was sitting up in bed, dark blue sheets and thick comforter wrapped numerous times around his person and partially spilled out onto the carpet below and the darkness surrounding them felt suffocating.

His mother was staring at him, looking directly at his face and observing his reactions. Naruto's eyes were wide and the tears would not stop for some reason, but if that was not enough, he couldn't quite remember what had caused all of the commotion. He could not recall why he was crying in the first place and his mind was blank and devoid of anything other than the fact that something in his chest felt hollow, like something deep within snapped and maybe that was why there was this dreadfully familiar and unfamiliar emptiness inside.

"Naruto?" a soothing tenor broke the child out of his semi-stupor, tears now only slowly sliding down the lines on his cheeks. It was the voice of his other parent, his father.

The younger blond instinctively turned to the sound and clenched his fists on the remaining bed sheets. Then, almost out of nowhere, he began to back up into a corner with his back stark against the wooden bedpost, curling his knees into himself and starting to shake his head in the universal gesture for 'no.'

"You're not real," the kid murmured, "You're not my dad. Don't lie."

That was the statement that both parents had not thought they would ever hear, and in Minato's case, never hear again.

The Fourth supposed he should have known better. Even a handful of years later, he should have known that there would have been some repercussions. Suddenly, the frustration at himself for being too ironically _slow, _a frustrationthat he had attempted to bury a while ago resurfaced with a vengeance, and the man found himself on his knees, his wife behind him with a too-shocked expression, and sitting on his haunches before his son.

"I'm not an illusion. I'm not a genjutsu," Minato said quietly, close to reiterating the same words he had said to the four-year-old version of his son, "It's me."

And so the world, if just for a single moment, was utterly quiet. Not a sound escaped from a human's lips and only the soft breaths of those present in the room could hope to be heard, if ever. And in the evening glow there was a nod of acceptance. Yes, these people were indeed _real_. They were not a faux panacea for some unknown orphan's heart. But little did anyone know how true that statement could have been…if only in another kind of universe.

The hours passed by sluggishly and the night drifted onward, but in the morning, Naruto acted as if he did not remember a single thing that went wrong that previous evening. Minato kept the thought mostly to himself, but he reluctantly decided that this was his way of coping, of forgetting things unwillingly like a form of denial and selective amnesia. After all, episodes similar to what had happened recently used to occur more often right after the child's traumatizing kidnapping. It's just that the Hokage had thought—and _really thought _and maybe even _hoped_—that those kinds of things had stopped for good.

A few members of the T and I Unit (better known as the Torture and Interrogation Unit), had said in passing that Naruto's abnormal reactions to his person and his parents in general in these few and far between states of mania were a terrible and unfortunate side effect of the Iwa ninjas' repetitive use of genjutsu on a prone toddler's mind. Because a lot of the times Riku had changed his appearance to look like Minato and the subsequent negative reinforcement for Naruto believing that the man was indeed his father, it might have resulted in a kind of unintentional behavioral conditioning (1) in which a stimulation was received with a negative response.

And thus, in a sense, little Naruto might sometimes unconsciously associate the appearance of his father or parents with impersonations of people he cares about, if only given the proper trigger.

It was times like these that Minato ardently wished he had killed that Iwagakure shinobi the first chance he had an opening. It was times like these that he faltered in the ninja rule he, for the most part, excelled at: never show your emotions on a mission. Somewhere deep inside, he wanted to see Riku _dead _or _writhing _for what he had done to his family.

But just as that admittedly black thought began to fester in his heart, he immediately banished it.

Closing his tired blue eyes in frustration, the Fourth brought a calloused hand up to rub at his temples and hopefully ebb the bitter emotions away into the far recesses of his brain. The blond attempted to think of happier, _brighter _things and forced himself to stare out of the little window just above the breakfast nook in his home and his lips twitched slightly upward at the sight of Naruto, Sasuke, and Itachi walking excitedly to the Academy for the first day of classes.

The man sighed deeply, a palm leaving his worried face and now taking hold of the handle of his mug of Gyokuro tea (2). He tried to think of how the sweet dew of this tea was his favorite during this time of the year, as it was only harvested annually in the springtime. But he thought briefly that he liked the color of the hot drink the most, as it was a mild, yet beautiful emerald green as a result of the chlorophyll of the leaves.

But it was just that; it was the fact that the leaves gave this morning tea the special hue. He supposed that as Hokage he would be prone to admiring the little things like this. After all, this was the Village Hidden in the Leaves.

And if he thought of the poetic words of his predecessor, the Third Hokage, he would sometimes feel this need to do well for this village again and again…

"_When the tree leaves dance, one shall find flames. The fire's shadow will illuminate the village, and once again, tree leaves shall bud anew."_

However, the satisfying taste of his drink and the steaming aroma had still brought him back to thoughts of how _Naruto _was one of those leaves, how _Naruto _was also part of the huge figurative tree that was Konoha, how _Naruto _was one of the glistening chartreuse buds that was just waiting to fully develop into something new and powerful and magnificent.

Minato took a tentative sip from his porcelain cup, eyes silently flickering to his green tinted reflection on the ripples of the tea, to the back of his courageous wife with her long tendrils of crimson hair cascading down her back as she washed the dishes and arranged the dry ones on a rack, to the lonely potted fern that sat on the middle of the circular table, and he wondered when he had become so jaded.

ooo

"Troublesome," a lazy voice mumbled into a sandwich as the owner of said voice, a dark haired boy with a spiky pineapple-looking ponytail on his head, sat cross-legged on the grass just outside the school grounds. "All I wanted was a lunch without any worries, but now there are stalkers following us against our will."

"I don't think people are usually stalked willingly, Shika," Naruto Namikaze pointed out to his companion, a new friend who was called Shikamaru Nara, and if the blond had to say so himself, the kid had absolutely no energetic attributes to his personality to speak of.

The raven haired Uchiha that sat directly to the right of the Hokage's son snorted. "Yeah and it's not like you're the only one they're stalking."

A crunching and munching could be heard a little to the left of Shikamaru and the owner of the noise this time was of one Choji Akimichi, a plump brunette boy with a red swirl Clan tattoo on each round cheek, and an odd hairstyle that made it look like he had a dark blue underwear on his head.

"I just wish they'd stop interrupting lunch," Choji said ruefully as he continued to stuff his face with the contents of his bag of potato chips, "I _like _lunch."

The strangely mismatched group of children was trying to enjoy their hour of break in which they could indulge in the glories of food and cloud gazing, but particularly a break from boring lectures on the beginnings of ninja lore and whatnot.

The four of them had become fast friends, with Naruto and Sasuke already being best friends and Shikamaru and Choji being likewise, they had found that together they were like the ultimate team. And now that they had been officially attending the Academy for two months, things were finally settling down and every new student was acclimatizing splendidly.

Of course there were a few problems, but as always that was something that could be easily expected. Unfortunately those problems included things like rabid fan girls chasing unsuspecting innocent boys. If Naruto and Sasuke were anyone else, maybe they would have actually _enjoyed _being mauled by crazy females, or—God forbid— if they were perverted enough to be like Jiraya of the Sannin.

Naturally, anyone who came into contact with the two boys became immediate alternative targets. In other words, Shikamaru and Chouji had officially been dubbed "guilty by association," so to speak. The mentality was that anyone who was friends with either of the two "most coveted perfect males to grace the earth" was somehow touched by gold and therefore was purely perfection themselves.

Naruto tried to ask his dad how the heck these people even came up with an ideology like that, but Minato shook his head and murmured something along the lines of, "Here we go again." Apparently, being stalked was something that ran in the family; not that Kushina liked the prospect all that much. Sasuke, on the other hand, was desired because of his almost opposite characteristics from his best friend. He was a mystery to many because he kept to himself, but what most of the Academy girls did not know was that was the nature of most of the Uchiha Clan.

However Naruto and Sasuke (and now Shikamaru and Chouji) had one thing in common when it came to fan girls: they were absolutely terrified by them.

The Akimichi son accidentally dropped one of his crispy potato chips onto the grass and, out of nowhere, a pale hand immediately snatched the offending piece of food away, followed by the face of a brunette female with bouncing and curly pigtails, followed by an inhuman squeal, and followed by running footsteps and more screaming in the background.

A squeaky voice bellowed, "I got his chip! I'm never eating it!" and more voices demanded to know how much they would sell the item for in the fan-girls-only black market.

All four boys shared a collective groan in response.

"We should really find a more secluded place to eat our lunch," suggested an annoyed Uchiha. "I think I'm going crazy."

The blond near him laughed good-naturedly and said, "You're crazy already!"

Sasuke frowned, lips forming into a noticeable pout. "Shut up, Naru. I'll pound you."

The pineapple-haired child only sighed, his arms clasping behind his head as he leaned back into the soft and slightly itchy edges of the grass beneath his legs. He decided to ignore the two bickering classmates and found himself unconsciously using his dark eyes to trace the outlines of the clouds above him. There was a rabbit-with-a-fluffy-tail-shaped cloud floating above him, and a cumulous that appeared to be in the shape of an angry fox face, and a particularly round formation that sprouted a long, thin tail. It was a rat.

He liked watching the clouds in his free time. It was such a calming thing to do. There was nothing troublesome about it, and the Nara thought that maybe he should take a nice, long nap and get rid of all of his worries. No fan girls, no squealing, no arguing friends, no boring lectures. Maybe he would even have a dream…

The annoyingly sharp tone of the end of the period bell rang piercingly in his eardrums.

_Damn_, Shikamaru thought sadly. _I'll never get a good long nap like that. _

And so they returned to the final half of the school day, each sitting in their respective assigned spots in the lecture hall. Some students took notes reluctantly, others doodled uncontrollably, Shikamaru tried to get in a nap or two, and still others attempted to follow along with rapt attention.

Their first year teacher, Noriko-sensei, was a silver-haired woman that tied up her locks up into a low braid that ended just below her shoulder. She had dark blue eyes with a gaze that could be intimidating when she was angry or frustrated, and she generally was known for her mastery over her classes. She could make a group of children listen to her with the snap of her fingers. As an unspoken rule, many students tended to avoid her. She was a _scary woman_. Not only that, but she never needed to shout in order to get her point across. The soft reprimanding tone she used was enough to stir sense into a child's misbehaving bones. (Not that anyone dared to try anything in her class; not even incurable pranksters like Naruto would dare. But if there was one woman that was actually scarier than his current sensei, he would have to say that was his own mother.)

The youngest Namikaze wrote in his lined orange notebook as diligently as possible. Occasionally he would doodle a swirl here and there, maybe even make miniature lists of supplies he would need for a future prank. His newest idea involved tripping wire, his Kakashi-nii, and a massive can of neon pink paint.

But he had to concentrate at least _somewhat_. He shook his head and pointed his pencil to the paper, in the process of writing the important dates of different events in the First Shinobi World War down for future reference:

_The First Shinobi World War started right after Hidden Villages were created…_

_On the 28__th__ of November the Leaf was ambushed by the Hidden Mist at the border of the Land of Grass and the Land of Fire, resulting in a major conflict and the fighting only went up from there…_

_Not many surviving records are left of the First War._

Naruto was growing increasingly frustrated. If there were so little records on the war itself, how come there was so much useless information he had to write down? He detested history lessons and would much rather do something more hands-on than read a textbook and try to learn about something that happened decades ago in what might as well have been the beginning of time.

He watched from the corner of his vision as Sasuke sighed at his notes. It did not look like the Uchiha enjoyed history much as well. At least he wasn't alone in that respect. Both boys often wondered what any of those past things had to do with throwing a kunai straight at a target or surviving a mission. But both supposed that if their parents had to go through it, they had to be unlucky enough to sit though lectures for a good portion of the day too.

Life could be so cruel sometimes.

"It was shortly after the duration of the First Great Shinobi War that the carvings at the Valley of the End were established," the commanding voice of Noriko-sensei boomed around the room. "It was said to be the place where the legendary battle between..." Her soft syllables faded from Naruto's hearing from there.

_All of a sudden, he was in another time, another place. He was standing at the foot of Hashirama Senju's statue in the Valley, his sandaled feet balancing precariously on top of the liquid foundations of the water beneath the menacing waterfall. He was angry and hurt somewhere deep in his heart and he didn't know why._

_He saw someone who looked vaguely familiar across from him, his eyes red and swirled with a strange pattern, almost like tomoe and then…_

"Alright," the chuunin instructor's voice snapped Naruto back to attention once again. "That was the bell. Class dismissed. I'll see you next Monday."

The blond blinked. He wondered exactly how long he had been daydreaming. It felt strange, to think of something weird like whatever it was he was thinking. For some reason, he suddenly couldn't remember what he was so deep in thought about. The sensation felt as if the six-year-old had forgotten something important yet unimportant at the same time.

"Hey," his best friend muttered with slight concern from somewhere near his person, "You okay? You look out of it."

Naruto turned in his plastic chair to look into the onyx stare of the Uchiha. "Yeah," he replied solemnly and he shook his head as if to get rid of some wandering thought out of his mind. "I'm okay. Let's get going." He then grinned and both boys stood up eagerly. "Besides, I'm hungry for some ramen!"

Raising a dark eyebrow and giving his companion a curious look, Sasuke smirked. "Of course you'd be hungry for ramen."

"Well _of course_," the Hokage's son emphasized enthusiastically. "It's only the best food ever!"

"Well _of course_." And there came the sarcastic retort.

The friends made their way out of the sliding entrance doors of their classroom that led into the main hallways and pathways of the Academy. When they had made it outside, they witnessed how the sun was at its highest peak. The time was late afternoon and as it was the beginning of summer, this was also the hottest time of the day.

The duo began to walk together. Though Naruto lived with his mother and father in the Hokage Residence which was literally right next to the Academy, he wanted to make sure that Sasuke would not have to go home alone. It was sort of like a small tradition of theirs. Besides, it was always more fun to have someone walk you home and talk to you rather than go about it all alone.

When they were more than halfway to their destination, a sudden rift in the airspace before them halted the pair in their tracks. An ANBU with a white porcelain mask appeared out of thin air, the leaves shifting uneasily below his feet. The mask glinted menacingly in the afternoon sunlight and Naruto recognized the man to be one of the ANBU that would guard him on occasion that his dad would say is called "Rat."

"Hokage-sama wants me to escort the both of you to the Uchiha Compound safely," the mysterious ninja said emotionlessly.

Naruto tilted his head sideways. "Huh?" he asked. "Why would he want you to do that?"

"A missing-nin was found to be lurking around in the village and we are still trying to capture him," the man replied with that unnerving tone again. "He wants to make sure that you and Sasuke Uchiha are protected in case the target comes after you. He is taking the necessary precautions. It is best that we keep within the Hokage's orders. Both of you could be in danger."

Naruto's blue eyes met the black ones of Sasuke. They nodded with determination.

Though the two kids were more than eager to prove themselves to their families, common sense also played a significant role. They were only six for one. Their bodies probably did not contain the muscle mass they would need to fight a competent shinobi like a missing-nin, and there was the fact that they had just started their studies to become capable ninja. Plus they were both well aware that their respective statuses in the village were more than enough incentive for someone to come after them.

"Okay," said Naruto, eyeing the ninja that loomed in front of them. "Lead the way, Rat."

Now the group transformed into a trio and the two children followed the third and tallest member tentatively. Their footsteps picked up the dust and dirt on the ground and clouds of smoke lifted up behind them, like a cloudy beacon to their path.

The gates of the compound appeared and they were about to enter, except that for some odd reason, they were left slightly open, the red and white fan-shaped symbol cracked in the straight line down the middle created by the opening. That had never happened before. There was supposed to be a guard patrolling the gates as every major clan in the village had one. Apparently Rat thought so too because he tensed, a hand covered in a fingerless glove lightly brushing upon his weapons pouch.

"Stay close to me," the ANBU member whispered harshly and the two stuck closer together to their newly acquired partner.

"If anything happens, you have to run," he added and the place was still and eerily silent.

Quite on the alert now, both six-year-olds glanced around the deserted looking compound with widened eyes. Obviously something wasn't right. Why was it so quiet?

There was a creak to the left of them that sounded like a wood panel in the house nearby. It was _Sasuke's_ house.

Said boy's eyes grew impossibly wide and he made a desperate break towards the sliding doors of his home, not bothering to take off his shoes as he went. Naruto tried to grab his arm and drag him back in order to hopefully knock some sense into him, but to no avail, and he ended up sprinting after the raven instead. The Rat ANBU launched after the two boys, his short sword finally drawn.

They had slid into the kitchen but there was nothing there but a bare stove and empty oven. Rat flickered right in front of them, blocking their path.

"What do you two think you're doing here?" he questioned angrily. "This place is dangerous! Someone is trying to—" And a shining silver sword impaled him directly in the stomach, flying rapidly through the air from somewhere behind the main duo and slicing flecks of blood everywhere, and the elite shinobi grunted in strangled disbelief. He never knew what hit him until it was too late. Gasping for breath, the ninja fell to his knees, hands trembling uncontrollably, and for a moment Naruto did not see the mask on his face, but a fallen comrade of the Leaf Village.

Grasping onto the hilt of the sword and lifting his face to stare at the Fourth Hokage's only offspring, the blond felt as if the blank circular eyeholes in his façade were desperately trying to tell him something that he really ought to know.

"Im—imposter," Rat stuttered, fingers still shaking. His hands started making hand signs. Fortunately, Naruto recognized what was going to happen immediately. His blood ran cold and he grabbed a hold of Sasuke's forearms and hightailed as fast as he could through the exit that led to the garden nearest the kitchen. He didn't bother to notice that someone else was following them.

"He's going to destroy his body!" the blond shouted hurriedly to the still shocked and confused form of his friend.

As soon as they hit the other side of the wall of the tomato garden outside, a brilliant cerulean light shone through the cracks of the walls and through the rice paper squares on each of the door panels of the home. A vague tremor shook the earth beneath them and a _wee-wooing _waving sound could be heard for a few seconds before the light swiftly shrunk into itself and was subsequently released outward, forcing an impressive shockwave into the open, breaking parts of the house into oblivion and, Naruto was sure, leaving no trace of Rat's body left for retrieval.

Nonetheless, it was a thorough way for an ANBU of Konoha to die.

They crouched behind the brick wall, clutching their heads and covering their sensitive ears. Without them noticing, both children had fallen into a curled up position, their lids shut tightly over their eyes.

After a brief moment of hush, a sinister chuckling could be heard and their spines tingled with dark anticipation. When their eyes opened, they saw the masked ANBU that had supposedly just lost his life in the explosion. Either he never lost his life or they were hallucinating.

"Well, well," said the man behind the mask. "What do we have here? The demon child and the Uchiha..." He spat out the children's identities with venom that neither of them had experienced before. Whoever this ninja really was, he surely and truly did despise them both with all his being. It was something they could feel profoundly into the marrow of their bones.

"Y—you can't be Rat," Sasuke tried to bravely point out, albeit with a noticeably quivering tenor.

If possible, they could feel the smile in the masked man's reply. "You're right. I'm not," he smugly retorted.

"Then who are you?" asked Naruto, breath hitching with dreadful expectation.

The imposter lifted a gloved hand to his face and appeared to have already undone the strings that tied the porcelain to his head. The Rat mask slid off easily and he made no motion to retrieve the object as it crunched heavily onto the ground below and left a rippling crack upon its surface. A chip of the replicated rat snout tinkered off easily.

"Easy," the man said forebodingly. He was now revealed to be a pale skinned male with chin length white-blue hair and he wore a dark bandana forehead protector with the stylized symbol of Konoha emblazoned on it still. "I'm the man that killed him. I'm Mizuki."

Scared and confused, Naruto tried to reason with him. "But you're from the Leaf Village! You're a comrade and—"

"Shut up, demon brat!" Mizuki cut him off. "This time I'll finish what your worthless father started and get rid of you! And _you _Uchiha…" The shinobi made it a point to glare coldly at the wide-eyed youth he was speaking to, "I'll destroy you and your foolish clan for what you did that night, six years ago! I'll kill you for what you all did to my family!

"After all, why should you live for wiping out innocent lives? _You_, the demon boy, and _you_, a member of that traitorous, repulsive, _sickening _clan of yours! I'll make you suffer more than enough! I'll make you feel every single hour, every minute, every agonizing _second _you've made me suffer because you took them all away from me!"

The crazed enemy lunged at the two seemingly defenseless youngsters and they thought that maybe at this moment, all they could do was scream out. But somehow, someway, they were quick enough to start running towards the forest as they swerved away from a handful of well-aimed kunai, a skilled chuunin-level ninja hot on their trail. If they weren't careful, there would be no way either of them would get out of this alive.

And elsewhere, the Hokage was having problems of his own and he was informed of the threat.

An ANBU popped into existence out of nowhere, but Minato was left unfazed. "Hokage-sama! There's trouble in the Uchiha Compound! There was an explosion and three individuals were reported to have been spotted there not too long ago!"

It was a good thing that he had already taken safety measures. He had heard murmurings of a threat for days and evacuated the Uchihas into a temporary safety hold. He had stationed ANBU all over the compound to seal it off for a while and he had sent Kakashi to attend to his son and his best friend as they left school for the day. If he pulled Sasuke out of the Academy in the middle of school hours, it was sure to cause a panic. Minato wanted to keep everything as low key as possible for now.

So _why _were things still going wrong?

And as he grew more and more frustrated with the situation, the Fourth was able to keep his calm and calculating exterior in place as things in the Uchiha District grew increasingly more difficult for Naruto and Sasuke, both of whom had taken to desperately sprinting through the trees, jumping as dexterously as they knew how. They stayed near to each other and watched each other's backs, already narrowly avoiding haphazardly thrown shuriken knives, although one or two had scraped them on their arms and legs, leaving shallow cuts in their skin.

"What are we gonna do, Sasuke?" Naruto yelped worriedly as a kunai zipped by his right ear. Mizuki was gaining on them and fast. "We don't have any weapons on us and we barely know any jutsu past E or D-rank, _maybe _C, but that's pushing it! How are we supposed to beat a guy like him?!"

The raven huffed, quickly pulling his companion to the side as an oversized shuriken whirled to where he was running away just seconds previously. The weapon lodged itself into the high portion of a thick oak tree just mere meters away, sending splinters of wood flying and the few birds that had built a nest somewhere on its branches escaped their home with horrified squawking leaving their beaks.

"We can't do this alone!" Sasuke replied, adrenaline rushing through his veins. They had hidden behind a thicket. They could hear Mizuki breathing heavily somewhere nearby. He brought down his voice in an effort to keep them undetected even for just a short while longer. "We need help! What about the Hiraishin seal you have on your body somewhere?"

Naruto bit his lip in frustration. His dad had mentioned a while ago that he had a seal on his skin somewhere, but for some reason he could not see or sense it. It was if it were on him someplace hidden. He didn't know how to activate it yet and he told Sasuke so.

"Oh no," his friend breathed out in exasperation. "What are we supposed to do now?"

"We need to alert the ANBU or get to the Hokage Tower," the blond let out hastily, eyes darting over to the space just above the leaves of the bush. Sweat was already starting to drench his dark orange shirt.

"After what happened with Rat, do you really think we can trust the ANBU right now?"

The response did not have to be said. They both knew the answer. How could they trust a force of people that could easily be someone else in disguise? This was bad. This was really, _really_ bad. They needed to get out of there. Now if only they had some way to counterattack, maybe they could hold off their adversary for a bit more time. They needed a well thought out plan.

All of a sudden, a light bulb clicked in Naruto's head and when Sasuke noticed the sparkle in his eyes, he grinned. So it was the inner prankster that was beginning to show himself out in the open. Usually, he was somewhat aggravated with Naruto's outrageous ideas and pranks, but this time, he guessed that it was one of those few occasions when they were definitely a good thing.

When the silvery glint of ninja wire suddenly wrapped around the two, the metal digging in into their upper arms, Naruto and Sasuke looked at each other with resolve, effectively ignoring the man that had caught them in his trap for that one second, and they disappeared, using the Body Replacement Technique to switch their positions with logs, which had then been promptly sliced into multiple pieces as a result of being exposed to the pressure of ninja wire.

Mizuki cursed out loud.

Meanwhile, the friends had found themselves a good distance away (for now) and they formulated a plan, a formation that had only lasted about a minute before their stalking enemy had finally found them.

The Uchiha waved a rapid hand signal to Naruto, a sign that only to the pair meant "I'll distract him while you do whatever it is you need to do," and he nodded in reply, disappearing as he jumped through the tree branches and watched as Sasuke preform the only C-rank jutsu he knew: the Phoenix Flower. Unpredictable bursts of small flame attacked the traitorous ninja, but he dodged them fairly easily.

A rumbling in the earth shook the ground for an instant, and out of the clumps of trees in the forest, a forest that the ninjas-in-training (specifically Naruto) had deemed their single stroke of good luck, a gigantic log tied with rope flew at the chuunin. The grounds were part of a training field which meant that it was rigged to the brim with a bunch of previously set up traps for training exercises. The prankster in the Hokage's son beamed, that is, until the log had been split in half by the very giant shuirken that they had avoided earlier in the game.

The Namikaze's eyes enlarged. He had no time to dodge something unexpected like that.

But that was when instinct kicked in. Impossibly, and probably out a sheer luck as he heard his name being bellowed out by his best friend in fear, he used the only bout of taijutsu he knew. The blond forcefully lifted his right leg, developing muscles tensing and burning, and used his shin to kick upward onto the bottom of the spinning weapon, watching in disbelief as the shuriken spun at a slower rate and shot upwards into the air. He had only a split second to plunge out of the way.

He yelled out in agony as he rolled a few feet from the spot he was just standing on, clutching his severely bruised leg to his chest. Mizuki took the initiative to throw a pointed kunai in the direction of the kid, who barely had the time to slide away from it. Too bad the weapon had already sliced through the top portion of his sleeve and left a fairly deep and reddening gash at the bottom of his shoulder. The hard metal struck hard into the earth right next to him, sinking into the soil.

"NARUTO!" The youngest offspring of the head of the Uchiha Clan roared. He brought up his fists, fully intent on dashing to the aid of his childhood friend, when the offending chuunin slipped outward in order to block his view.

Breathing heavily, the raven rapidly made the seals for the Phoenix Flower again. _Rat__‒__Tiger__‒__Dog __‒__Ox__‒__ Rabbit__‒__Tiger__—_

And flames burst forth once again, singeing and making the yellowish green grass crisp. It was fruitless, however, in harming the turncoat, who only grinned mockingly. Mizuki flashed away and appeared behind him, as the Uchiha swiveled around to face him, only to be punched unswervingly in the gut. The boy grunted in response and he fell, sliding backwards for a few feet, dirt marring his formerly pristine white shorts.

"You really think you can beat me?" the man glowered as he stared ominously down at the fallen six-year-olds, who were now laying on the floor and closer to each other. "_Me? _I'm one of the best chuunin in this forsaken village! And to think that _you two_, a pair of _weak _Academy students—not even genin yet, no less—think you can really beat _me_? Trick _me_?"

The kids shuddered, unconsciously huddling subtly nearer to each other. They thought that if they were going to die a horrible death that they were sure would come if a miracle didn't happen soon, they might as well do it together.

What neither Mizuki nor Sasuke noticed, however, was the Ram sign that Naruto had secretly made with his hands. He tugged on the midnight blue shirt of his friend in a slight gesture of warning, and as the adversary stalked closer and closer and closer, teeth and sneer oddly luminous in the light of the setting sun, the blond whispered unflinchingly, "Release."

_Boom_.

Chaos exploded in the clearing. Paper bombs that were strewn across the area blew up in succession, activating simultaneously and with purpose. Clouds of smoke blossomed to life, the black ink that was painstakingly painted onto the rice paper shimmered into a temporary white light and busted and thundered, leaving debris everywhere.

Having managed to successfully read Naruto's warning, Sasuke made it a point to drag them out of there. At the moment, he had the panting form of his companion leaning against him and both youths were out of breath. They had made it to a dead run in those few instants they had to escape the crossfire and they had promptly jumped downward as soon as the detonations began.

If the ninja in the village were not aware of the goings-on in the training field before, they sure as hell were aware of it now. Hopefully, that is.

What they heard next was laughing. It started out sluggish, and then it gradually hiked up in pitch and tone. The laughter became manic and sounded definitely demented. It would not stop. It kept on; it continued as if there was nothing wrong with the eerie, all-encompassing sound. This was the laughter of a broken man, of a crazed man, of a man who sought nothing but darkness and revenge but could not find happiness within himself or in others around him.

At that very moment, Naruto and Sasuke felt numb. They thought they had defeated him. Apparently, they were so wrong; so very, very wrong, and neither of them had been more terrified in their short lives.

What stood before them was the chuunin, an insane leer cracked his face. His pupils were dilated strangely and the blue-green of the irises of his eyes reflected disconcertingly against the soft auburn glow of the sun that was now halfway across the sky and heading westward. The ends of his white hair were blackened as a result of the banging eruptions. He now sported superficial burns on various spots across his person. They looked like they smarted as they were pink in color.

However, what was the most disturbing for the pair was that Mizuki now only had eyes for them. It was not as if he didn't have his dangerous agenda on them before, but now it felt as if this man would now stop at absolutely nothing to utterly terminate them forever.

Something that felt sinister tingled down their backs and spines. A deep, caressing, murky emotion enveloped their beings. In momentous flares they saw blood and death and cloudy eyes and cut-off limbs and gore…

This man wanted to more than obliterate them. He wanted them to suffer in excruciating pain.

And so neither of the children could move. They were stuck in a seemingly unwavering flicker of time and space. It felt like a genjutsu, but they knew in their heart of hearts that it was not. This was an unbelievable intent to kill that was so unbearable that you could practically touch it in the atmosphere and the only thing you could do was fall onto your knees and beg for mercy—_any _mercy, any kind of mercy.

Mizuki grinned, his face grim and threatening. "You're pathetic, Namikaze. And to think that your own father sealed that Nine-Tailed Fox demon within you? Pitiful. I could destroy you in a heartbeat."

There was a pause, a long, long pause. Nothing moved.

Stumbling out of Sasuke's hold and eyes wide with horror, Naruto let out a strangled whisper. "W—what did you say?"

There was another crazed piece of laughter, a chortle that permeated the air. "You heard me," the white-haired traitor said forcefully. "You're the fox demon. Why else would I want to kill you? You came, six years ago, and destroyed _everything _I knew and loved. And to think that the Uchiha Clan was responsible for unleashing you upon this village…

"It's all _your fault_," he smirked and subsequently growled in anger. "Your stupid father thought he could protect you by sealing you into an innocent child—his own son—and has been traipsing around, making us all believe that you're some kind of misunderstood hero."

Sasuke watched in terrible panic as he saw his friend steadily sink to his knees, holding onto his head like it was his only lifeline. None of that could be true, could it?

"You're lying!" Naruto hollered desperately, grasping for straws. "YOU'RE LYING! HE WOULD _NEVER_—"

The child was cut off once again by that outlandish, unadulterated laughter. "You're so naïve!" Mizuki yelled with perturbing triumph in his posture. "You really think that a demon like that could just disappear? Did you really believe what the villagers and the adults have been telling you all this time? Did you not know that your own father created a law that neither you nor your generation should know about the demon sealed within your gut until you were all proper ninja? Did you not know that your own family, your own home, was keeping a secret from you? Have you ever wondered why there were so many attempts on attacking the Uchiha Clan when you were younger, why, even though there are fools who regard you as a hero, there are still some that sneer at you for some unexplained reason?!

"There is only one explanation! They _hate _you because you _killed _what was precious to them!" The man finished with an intense flourish.

Naruto sat there, shaking and murmuring 'no' over and over again. He was in total shock, and as the chuunin flung another massive spinning shuriken in their direction, Sasuke could only do one thing and throw his companion a yard or so away from it as he himself ducked with the adrenaline rush.

The armament shredded through the trees behind them until one of them toppled over and trapped the Uchiha's lower leg with a sickening _crunch_. He yelled out when the trunk hit him.

_At least Naruto's safe_, he alleged to himself, but the thought speedily dispersed when he really observed the position his friend was in.

The blond was curled into a fetal position, eyes wide and unseeing besides the dread he felt within himself. His fingers shook and his shin was still horribly bruised purple and the slice on his upper arm was still red from the drying blood. A sheen of cold sweat was gleaming above his brow.

_Well_, Sasuke darkly supposed, _I guess we're both injured. But I might be the only one who's in my right mind now. Not that I can do much at this point…_

"And now," Mizuki sneered, "_now _I'm going to finish both of you so that I can get rid of the rest of the Uchiha Clan next."

The man took out a handful of metal kunai from his seemingly endless arsenal and flung them at both Sasuke and Naruto, only one of whom had the decency to flinch as an instinctive reaction while the other still wallowed in his own disbelief that his dad, his mom, his family, his village….and the fox…the fox…

A resounding number of _clangs _brought the raven out of his reverie and another ninja stood before them, blocking every single one of the kunai from hitting their intended targets. Unkempt and lopsided silver hair reflected in the dimming sunlight, a dark mask covering half of the intruder's mysterious face, and his forehead protector was slanted over his left eye. A gray shinobi vest covered his chest like armor.

"I don't think so," Kakashi Hatake said sternly to his opponent. "I'll admit you had me distracted earlier. You made me believe that you had found where we hid the rest of the clan and I had rushed there with the intent to help guard them, only to find out that they were in no danger whatsoever. You were planning on getting rid of the more vulnerable targets first, weren't you?"

The chuunin chuckled enigmatically. "Very good. Though I knew it was only a matter of time before you figured it out." He gave an intimidating glare and added, "I do wish you had come a bit later though. I had almost, ah…_finished the job_."

At that comment, the young jounin glanced over to Naruto and saw that the boy was nowhere near sane at that particular moment, then to Sasuke who was writhing in discomfort at the prospect of a crushed foot.

His singular uncovered black eye flashed with ire. "_What did you do_?" He bit out in total resentment. "Whatever you did, Mizuki, I _assure you_, the Hokage will have your head for it. It's one thing to be a traitor to the village," he continued venomously, "but another thing to attack innocent children!"

"Innocent?" The wayward ninja snarled. "You think they're _innocent_?!"

"What did you do?!"

The chuunin laughed hysterically once again. It seemed that the crazily happy smile would never look as if it would wash off of his face. "Nothing! I just did what was coming to them anyway! Besides," and he said this part with a mysteriously ominous tone as he pointed his chin to the wobbling and unbelieving Namikaze, "I just told that one there a little secret."

The silver-haired young man growled. "You _didn't_."

"Oh," reassured Mizuki. "I definitely did."

They charged at the same exact moment, shuriken hitting kunai, kunai splicing shuriken. Fists pounded against each other in a tremendous dance of skill. A knee was shoved into Mizuki's unsuspecting stomach. He gagged out saliva, the scowl on his face deepening, and he attempted a roundhouse kick to Kakashi's head, to which the said target powerfully redirected with a high block.

The jounin shoved the man over, forcing the battling pair onto the ground until he had caught the challenger in a headlock, his elbow tightening around the male's neck. He pulled out a kunai from his back pouch and lifted the man's head till the sharp tip was right at his throat. The chuunin snorted and poof-ed away until Kakashi was grappling with a pile of harmless twigs.

Dropping the mess in frustration, the Hatake stood up and asked, "Where are you?!"

An echoing voice sounded in his eardrums. "Tsk, tsk," the male commented coldly, "It looks like you've lost most of your skill."

"There!" Kakashi shouted tersely as he launched a volley of shuriken to the place to his right and nearest to the largest oak in the forest. Unfortunately, there was no hitting of his objective as Mizuki dodged them and landed right behind the jounin only to plunge a sparkling knife into his chest. The single onyx eye widened in surprise and his face paled, crimson spurting forth like a fountain.

"It seems," said the man who had defeated the Copy Ninja, "Even I can kill the Hokage's right hand man."

The enemy watched as Sasuke saw, transfixed with terror as he witnessed the death of one of the adults he trusted the most. He smirked as he saw as the boy tried to shift his gaze over to Naruto was had been splattered with some of his "Kaka-nii's" beautiful, gorgeous life blood.

Oh he loved it. He loved it. If he could, he would kill and murder more. It was terrifying; it was refreshing and free! If only he could kill all of the Uchiha next and that wretched Kyuubi container, then, he felt, his life would be complete.

But at the same second he felt a foreign tingling sensation near his shoulder blade. The former Konoha ninja tensed as excruciating pain shot through his forearm and muscles and lightning plunged through to the other side of his body, totally decimating his shoulder. He collapsed, shaking and bleeding profusely from his damaged side. He couldn't believe what was happening.

A sandaled foot stepped into his vision and his eyes travelled upward only to see Kakashi himself standing over his prone form.

"W—what?" the injured foe stammered incredulously, "I thought you were dead."

The silver-haired jounin stared at him with an unflinching frown. "You were already defeated from the start," he said matter-of-factly without taking his eyes off the antagonist. "I had you under a genjutsu from the moment you used substitution to replace yourself with sticks. You miscalculated.

"I was named a jounin for a reason, Mizuki," he spat in an uncharacteristic show of emotion. "But you," he continued unfazed, "you're just a deserter."

And that was that. Mizuki appeared totally defeated immediately after hearing those words and the Hatake deftly bound and gagged his body, not even bothering to feign gentleness.

He turned to a heavily breathing Sasuke who was trying to release his foot from underneath the tree trunk, and he nodded to the frightened boy, calming him down before signaling that he was going to free him himself. One arm glowing bright with chakra, he sliced the log down the center and rolled the remaining piece carefully off of the child's limb. The raven looked at him gratefully while he still clutched his foot, blood noticeably marring the purpling skin on the surface of his ankle, but then the Uchiha glimpsed Naruto as if to inquire, "What about him?"

Naruto's face was blank; his normally cheerful azure irises were dull. He was blatantly ignoring the bad contusion on the surface of his shin which was a magenta and reddish-brown color by now. There was a bit of yellow and green around the edges that were a good thing. It meant that the injury was healing.

Kakashi sighed, a hesitant expression gracing his features. "Naru…?" he asked uncertainly. "Naru. The seal. We need to activate it," he alleged as mildly as possible as he touched the boy's shoulders. The kid did not even move an inch. He still stared blankly at the darkening horizon. That was not a good sign.

"Naruto," the jounin repeated quietly, quite aware of the audience member who stared at his best friend with apprehension. "I'm going to activate the Hiraishin that you have on you, okay?" And yet he still received no reply.

Exhaling silently, he pumped a small burst of chakra with a feather light touch on the boy's abdominal, and something glowed beneath the dark orange fabric that looked suspiciously like a swirled pattern with the squiggled kanji-like writing of the Flying Thunder God Technique seal incorporated onto it.

Less than a second later the imposing figure of the Fourth Hokage flickered into existence nearest to his son.

Minato's gaze scanned the scene before him. He saw Mizuki who stared up at his leader with absolute fear and trepidation, saw Sasuke who was desperately trying to snap his childhood friend out of the vegetable-like state he was in, saw Kakashi peering up at his teacher with something ominous and livid reflecting in his façade, saw Naruto who was acting like there was nothing else and no one else around him.

And then that thing he tried to hold back inside his heart snapped, that thing that he tried to keep within himself only, that thing he knew would rear its ugly head and come out if anything like this ever happened again to his precious people, that alarming thought he had whenever he took a tentative sip from his Gyokuro tea and saw the leaves that made up his village, saw the priceless bud that his son and his son's generation was.

"_You're not my dad," _he heard the susceptible Naruto murmur in his memories. _"Don't lie."_

_Don't lie._

_Don't lie._

_You're such a liar._

Minato's face betrayed no emotion, but Kakashi and the rest of those in the clearing could practically feel it permeate the air. Never had anyone seen this man, this dangerous S-class shinobi, so purely enraged. His entire person became cold as ice and his glare was unforgiving, even uncaring enough to send numerous shivers down someone's spine.

He slowly walked to the fallen chuunin, whose eyes widened as each step seemed to escalate his pathetic fright.

"Mizuki," the Yellow Flash said unfeelingly with a stony aloofness to his tenor, "You had an…_interesting _plan." He gestured to the people in the area, not missing the horrified gasp that came out of the traitor's mouth. "First you lead Kakashi away from Sasuke and...my son," the chuunin recoiled violently at the indication, "knowing full well that he would have no choice but to go and check on the Uchiha.

"Then," the blond continued with increasing coldness, "You decide to disguise yourself as one of my most trusted ANBU, even though you knew that the same ANBU was one of the ones guarding the compound. And let's not forget that you," and he narrowed his eyes at the following statement, "_killed _that said ANBU and then decided that right before you went on to try and destroy the Uchiha Clan, you would attempt to hurt or maybe even _kill _innocent children that so happened to include," and he seemingly casually stepped on one of Mizuki's bound hands in an atypical display of minor hostility, "Sasuke Uchiha and," the foot pressed harder onto the man's bruising fingers, "my _son_."

Minato frowned, releasing the pressure of his foot from the male's hand. He calmly turned around, still with no emotions on his features, his mouth forming a thin line, and clasped both of his calloused palms behind his back as if this were some gesture of nonchalance, but they all knew better.

"You are obviously no longer worthy to be called a ninja of mine," the Hokage furthered icily.

The leaves rustled in the background. No one dared to utter one word. Never, and Kakashi would definitely adhere to the statement, never had anyone witnessed this Hokage so glaringly irate and emotionlessly unsympathetic. One could even call it scary.

From that moment, Kakashi did not have to know that Mizuki did not have to necessarily be dead to be considered a dead man.

"Kakashi," the powerful leader commanded, "Alert the Uchiha and the rest of the ANBU that the missing-nin has been captured and subdued and I expect Inoichi and Ibiki here within five minutes. Bring Sasuke back to his family afterwards. I'll take care of the rest from there."

"Yes," the jounin responded to his sensei, "Understood, Hokage-sama." He never called Minato by his official title unless the situation was gravely serious. He could tell the man would take no sort of fooling around in the mood he was currently in, and after tinkering with his communicator, he was able to inform all intended parties of the news. Right after, he lifted Sasuke from under his armpits and gave him a look as the boy struggled to try and stay to help his friend. The raven comprehended the seriousness of the order, nevertheless, and resigned himself to be reluctantly carried back to his awaiting fellow clansmen.

Moments later Inoichi Yamanaka, a tall man with long, blond hair that was tied back into a ponytail that far reached past his lower back, and Ibiki Morino, a scarred man with a black bandana tied securely around his bald head came into view. Satisfied that the main members of the Torture and Interrogation Department had arrived so punctually, Minato gestured to the bloody and battered form of Mizuki, who they took with them without a spoken word. They too noticed the coldness that their Hokage seemed to be seeping out in spades.

That left Naruto and Minato alone in the training forest.

The six-year-old had long since sat up, injured leg and uninjured leg respectively tucked near to his core and he also laid his chin on his knees. His childish arms were wrapped around the front of his legs in a loose fashion but his eyes…his eyes saw nothing. Absolutely nothing. To him, there was only emptiness beyond the point of his own heart and soul. His mouth was slightly parted and agape, but no noise came out of it. Even if you listened closely, it was difficult to hear the soft breaths that were escaping his lungs, to hear the oxygen come in and the carbon dioxide come out, to hear this child be a part of the cycle of the world.

Closing his eyelids briefly, Minato let the anger drain out of his system before he cautiously sat near to his son. Naruto did not even bother to move. His eyes were still blank and to Minato, that scared him the most of all.

"I know what happened," the father said out loud. "I could figure it out just from seeing Mizuki and Kakashi's face and…" He faltered, scrunching his eyebrows together, "…and your face," he added quietly.

"I know…I know you probably will always hate me for what I did to you," and Minato placed his face in the palms of his hands, "I know I'm not the kind of father that you deserve," and his shoulders began to tremble ever so slightly, "I know that you probably think I'm worthless and you're probably thinking, 'What kind of Hokage is this guy?' and that," and for some peculiar reason his hands started to feel moist and wet and his lips tasted salty, "I'm not the kind of person you could ever look at again," and for some reason his voice started cracking in unusual places as he spoke, "and that I couldn't possibly…and that I couldn't _possibly _ever deserve your respect or the kind of love that a son has for his dad…"

Gradually and ever so slightly, the light had begun to return to Naruto's eyes. He was no longer quite as still as a ceramic doll as he listened to his father speak to him in that cracking voice of his. He didn't realize until after the fact, but he knew that his parent, his strong and seemingly undefeatable parent, was crying. And he did not know why, but he felt the back of his eyeballs burn as tears spilled out and rolled down as well.

And he found his voice; it was lodged somewhere deep within his chest.

"You—you sealed the Nine-Tails in me?" Naruto shakily asked his father, his azure gaze downcast as the tears continued to leak. "I don't understand. I thought it was gone." He began rubbing at his cheeks furiously as wet streaks came in rivulets down to his chin. "I—I thought you loved me…"

Minato snapped his head up at the comment. He did not want his only son to ever, ever think that way. How could he not love him? Did he not see the lengths he would go just to protect his very existence? Did he not see his willingness, his drive to keep him ever close to his heart? Did he not see that he and Kushina meant the universe to him, that their lives were worth something infinite to him?

Did he not see how much he truly, wholly, and unwaveringly, _loved _everything his son was just for being there, just for being his one and only child, the one person he helped bring into the world?

Did he not know the kind of love a parent must always have for his child?

"Naruto," he murmured softly, tentatively placing his callused palms on his son's small shoulders and smiling as he too had eyes wet from emotion. "Naruto. I _do _love you. I do. And nothing will ever change that."

His son was only partially paying attention; his arms were now desperately covering his face and wiping away the tears, but Minato would have none of that. He shakily embraced the six-year-old, closing his eyes as he did so and they held each other close as the warmth spread between them. He felt Naruto stiffen at the contact, but paid it no heed. The child needed to be reassured.

"Even if I had had to seal more than one demon into you I would still care for you," the older man continued. "Even if the whole world hated me for it, I would still care for you. Even if the whole village despised you because they only saw the demon and not you, I would still care. Even if, somehow, you were actually _becoming_ the fox demon, I would find a way to change you back, but I would love you regardless."

Naruto blinked up at his father. "Really?" he questioned silently, almost unbelievingly.

"Really," Minato replied. "I sealed the Kyuubi within you because I believed—and I still believe—that you can control its powers because you are the only one that can and because you are my son. I had no other choice at the time, but of course I regret having to place such a heavy burden on you…

"But I know you can do it. You saved the village that night from an enemy that I could not defeat, and no, it was not the Uchiha's fault either. You're strong and you'll become even stronger. But you also have to remember," and he really looked at his son now, wanting to make sure the message would sink in, "that you are _not _the demon. You're just the jailer. You're Naruto Namikaze. You're you, not anyone or anything else, so don't believe it if someone tells you that you are some kind of monster."

Naruto smiled tearfully and grasped the front of his father's jounin vest and hugged him back. He snickered softly and somewhat hesitantly stated, "Dad, you're crazy. What if I had a bowl cut like Gai, or a big red eyebrow? You wouldn't love me then, would you?"

The Fourth laughed back and poked the boy in the nose. "Of course I would! Even if you had elephant ears, I'd love you."

"Oh really? What about cat ears?" The unsure excitement rose in his pronunciation.

_There's the Naruto I know_, thought Minato.

"I think I would love you then too," the man grinned, holding his son close to him as he stood up and began to walk back to the Tower, now in a genuinely better mood than just moments earlier. His little child squirmed a bit in his hold but did not complain otherwise.

"How about if my arms were made out of ramen?"

The Hokage tapped his chin in contemplation. "Hm. I don't know about that one…"

ooo

Evening had fully set in and Naruto and Sasuke were now returned to their homes after an extremely eventful afternoon. Mizuki had been sent to be interrogated rather thoroughly, and Kakashi even made the decision to participate in the questioning himself. That was a sure sign to all shinobi in the Leaf Village that the young man was furious with both himself and the missing-nin. Minato could not blame him.

In fact, he had joined in as well. That morsel of information alone was enough to turn more than a few heads. The Hokage himself _never _indulged in interrogating a criminal unless it was serious business. And for a good portion of the day many made painstakingly sure methods to avoid him with his dispassionate and shadowy ire.

However, even after hours of interrogating the pitiful former chuunin, they could barely get any information out of him besides his motive which was already something that they could determine for themselves without having to force it out of him.

Even the Yamanaka, a clan well known for their secret mind techniques that were invaluable to cross-examination and information gathering, was of no use whatsoever. This alone was more than disconcerting.

Inoichi had said that he had tried to probe Mizuki's mind for something, _anything _that could indicate a memory or a conversation, but there were vast amounts of his thoughts that were heavily concealed. It was as if someone had taken evident measures in walling out the important things and he was met with block after block after block and resistance.

But it was Minato that discovered why they couldn't get him to talk, at least. There was a strange and unidentifiable seal tattooed onto Mizuki's tongue, so he sketched it out and kept the paper within his robe pockets. This would be something he needed to break if no one else could.

And the seal was officially known in the small group as an S-ranking secret.

The troubling problem was not the seal that barred them from gathering any kind of useful information, though. It was the fact that the tongue seal was a clear sign that someone was working behind the scenes and that Mizuki the chuunin most likely had a benefactor for his little failed "project," and a supervising ANBU from T and I had told him so.

"The thing is, Hokage-sama," the cat masked ANBU alleged a little diffidently. The Hokage gestured for the man to continue. "Evidence points to the fact that Mizuki could not have been acting alone."

"I figured as much," Minato sighed.

"No. I mean that there's evidence that someone inside Konoha was using him." The elite ninja looked up determinedly and continued, "Someone inside our own village wants the Uchiha Clan gone."

The Hokage's eyes narrowed. He had a foreboding feeling in the pit of his stomach and even had a hunch to who this person was. In fact, all the evidence could be considered palpable, but they needed to tread carefully on these waters. If he was correct, this was a danger not only to the Village Hidden in the Leaves, but to the very roots of its presence within the Land of Fire and the world of shinobi as a whole. Their enemies could take advantage of their weakness if they haven't already secretly done so.

They could be crushed from the inside out.

He gripped his pen and dismissed the agent, observing as he flashed and flickered away from the office, and he thought yet again of the emerald green of the Gyokuro tea and sank tiredly into the plush chair that the office of kage had to offer. Minato thought that maybe, it was time for him to call it a day and go home for the night.

But the morning would come eventually.

**AN: Even longer than last chapter! This one's 29 pages. Sorry for the super, super, super long wait!**

**Coming up next…**

**Chapter Five: Listen to the Battle Hymn**

_**The Hidden Cloud and Hidden Sand come to discuss peace talks with the Hokage.**_

**Answers to questions that you might have been wanting to ask:**

(1) _Behavioral conditioning _is part of the Behaviorist theory in psychology. To put it in clearer terms, it is kind of like teaching a living being to respond to something a certain way. There are two kinds of _behavioral conditioning _and that includes operant conditioning (behavior modification in which the likelihood of a specific behavior is increased or decreased through positive or negative reinforcement ), which I would like to think is the kind of conditioning that occurs in this story, and classical conditioning (behavior modification in which a subject learns to respond in a desired manner in which a neutral stimulus is repeatedly presented in association with a stimulus that provokes a natural response).

(2) _Gyokuro_ translates to "Precious Dew." It is a Japanese tea and is known as the highest grade of tea and is harvested annually in the spring. The plant is shaded during the final weeks of growth, producing more chlorophyll in the leaves, and giving it a deep emerald green color.


	5. Listen to the Battle Hymn

**AN: Hah…so 36 pages…Sorry? Also sorry if there are mistakes. I don't have a beta!**

**Though the secret of Naruto's sealing is technically out in the open now, Sasuke is the only one in his generation besides Naruto himself that knows the nitty-gritty details and about the seal in general. The law is still mostly in effect and the rest of his class and the people that either were not there during the Kyuubi attack or weren't old enough to remember it will NOT know anything about the Kyuubi unless otherwise exposed early or until they are capable genin. **

**I have one last important thing to state before you read the chapter. There have been a lot of questions regarding Naruto's "dreams." Yes, they will play an important role, but not until later. All I will say is that this is not your typical "Naruto changes the past" time travel fanfiction. Without giving anything away, I can say that you could think of it as "symbolic," while keeping in mind that **_**this is a time travel fanfcition**_**, but just not a conventional one so to speak. **

**Also was extremely painful to write in some areas because of the appearance of certain characters that are now dead in canon. (613 and 614 anyone? Who else will Kishi kill?) Shit will probably hit the fan in the chapter. **

**Extra notes: **_**Yuriko**_** is a Japanese name meaning "hundred-perfect-child." Also, good songs to listen to while reading this chapter include **_**Chances **_**by Athlete and **_**Diamonds **_**by The A-Sides. **

**Chapter Five:  
>Listen to the Battle Hymn<strong>

"_The loneliest people are the kindest. The saddest people smile the brightest. The most damaged people are the wisest. All because they do not wish to see anyone else suffer the way they do."_

—_Unknown_

* * *

><p>They were eight-years-old, no longer the bottom of the food chain in the Academy. They were third years, the middle of the pack, and above all, they sure as hell weren't <em>first years<em>. And so this meant that they could beef up their efforts in the delicate art of taijutsu, an art that was imperative for all aspiring shinobi to learn.

And so here they were in the middle of the school grounds, burning with adrenaline and anticipation, watching as droplets of sweat trickled like rain onto the bamboo floorboards. This was a typical third year taijutsu sparring session, complete with a bellowing Noriko-sensei, who happened to not only be the first years' homeroom teacher, but the resident taijutsu specialist in the Academy, and other numerous chuunin instructors that alternated from frowning, to nodding their heads, to writing notes on their clipboards.

Sasuke blocked the punch as he saw it coming towards his exposed face and saw as his opponent lazily stuck his hands into his shorts pockets. He raised an eyebrow in curiosity, but abruptly shook his head in order to clear his thoughts. He could not afford to be distracted. If that was his opponent's strategy, the so be it. The dark-haired boy would never fall for a cheap trick like that display.

The raven ducked when a lethargic kick swept over his head, but then he swiftly pushed back with his knee, effectively knocking his partner to the ground. He blinked when his opponent did not even bother to stand back up. It even looked like he _wanted _to just keep lying there. What a lazy pile of bones.

"Seriously, Shikamaru," the Uchiha noticeably frowned at the Nara who still appeared to lay stock still upon the floorboards in an odd sleep-like trance, "Are you even _trying_?"

"Honestly?" the boy asked with a bored tone as he pouted and stared out of the high glass window near the ceiling to take a peek at the clouds. "Not really."

Sasuke planted a palm on his forehead in exasperation. "Figures," he responded with a groan.

Needless to say, Sasuke was immediately declared the winner as his opponent had been declared "unfit to fight via extreme inability to get off his ass and actually try to hit something for once." Shikamaru didn't feel the need to complain. That was just all in a day's work for a member of the Nara Clan. As long as it got him out of doing more troublesome things than he was willing to do, he was totally fine with the circumstances.

The duo unceremoniously sat off to the sidelines and watched as Naruto thoroughly defeated a peaky looking kid that had an abnormally huge nose and a perpetually timid expression painted onto his face. One of the instructors shook his head, ashamed of the student who was now sitting on his behind and rubbing the back of his head with a pout as the teacher reprimanded him for not paying enough attention to taijutsu classes. If he had, maybe he would have been able to land at least _one _punch or at least blocked something.

Naruto plopped himself beside Shikamaru and they all sighed in sync with each other. The boys of the third year class were more or less finished with their practice time and all that were left was a small group of girls. However, the group of friends was in duress mostly because a pink-haired girl named Sakura Haruno and a blond girl with hair tied high up into a bun that was called Ino Yamanaka, were taking out their frustrations over the affections over the boys again.

"I _told you, _Ino-pig," Sakura spat venomously as she made a sad attempted at a back hook kick, "One of them will like me first!"

"Shut up, Billboard Brow!" Ino bellowed when she elbowed at the air, clearly missing her target, "I'll have Sasuke or any of his friends before you ever do! You're just an ugly chicken face with a big enough forehead that I can use it to write essays on!"

The rosette snarled and whipped around, effectively hitting Ino as they both tumbled onto the bamboo panels and went from traditional sparring to a match between admittedly vicious brawling females as they pulled at each other's hair. Each one screamed out curses and colorful insults at the other to the point that everything in the dojo stopped and all activity was now locked onto the yelling pair. The males of the class blinked and some turned to look at the forms of Naruto, Sasuke, and Shikamaru as they toppled over and complained woefully at the scene. Good thing Chouji was out that day because of food poisoning, otherwise they would have more than three poor souls on the ground at the moment.

A strange and permeating chill engulfed the air and each student tensed briefly as a growling teacher stalked up to the disruptive girls. Sakura and Ino did not seem to notice however, and were still continuing to go at it with what appeared to be more aggressiveness than just a few seconds prior.

Noriko-sensei was definitely not a happy camper. Her dark azure eyes narrowed significantly and her silver braid hung loosely off her shoulder as she leaned in closer to glare at the fighting girls. Her lips twisted into a snarl and she extended out her right arm until it was touching the edge of Ino's jaw, who halted in her actions immediately, and Norkio flicked her painfully there while she used her free arm to lift Sakura by the ear to pull them apart.

"What the heck do you two think you're doing?!" The teacher thundered angrily. "This is supposed to be a taijutsu lesson and practice class, _not _a wrestling match with front row seats! You are supposed to be training to become ninja, not wild animals struggling for the last scrap of meat! Do I make myself clear?!"

The girls hesitated and inched farther away from each other.

The older woman stomped a hostile foot onto the floor which caused a miniature earthquake to reverberate throughout the room and she placed her hands firmly upon her hips, a look of pure irritation never leaving her face.

She roared and said, "WELL?! I just asked you two idiots a question! Now answer it before I make you write five-hundred lines after school today!"

The two glanced at each other and gulped, replying with quick and successive responses of, "Yes, ma'am, you made yourself clear." However, that was obviously not enough because a sadistic smile cracked the chuunin instructor's face in half and they knew that they were nowhere near out of the woods yet. The whole class waited with bated breath for the inevitable punishment to be given out. They actually felt a little sorry for them.

"I'll be nice today," said the silver-haired woman with a strange and oddly gleeful look, to the surprise of everyone witnessing it, "I hate writing lines myself. My hand hurts after a while and I have to massage it for about an hour before it gets back to normal and my calluses start disappearing…" The girls seemed relieved for a moment as they started nodding in approval, but the woman was not done yet, "So I'll just have you two clean out the toilets in the entire school after class every day for the next week.

"And not only that," she added deceptively sweetly at the look of terror on both of their young faces, "You'll only be allowed to use latex gloves and soap and no toilet brushes! Don't forget to change them periodically, especially when you get to the boys' bathroom! We wouldn't want the germs on your hands to find their way onto our nice _clean toilets_, now would we?"

Luckily, or unluckily for the girls that were in trouble, the intercom resounded in the school campus and the annoying beeping noise the signified the end of the day echoed in their ears before the chuunin could continue with her lecture. Almost everyone sighed in relief and they halted in practicing their forms or from observing others after a spar, and a whole collection of students left to go to their respective classrooms to gather their things and finally leave for the day while Sakura and Ino grudgingly stood up so that they could follow Noriko-sensei to the supply closet for the beginning of their sentence.

In the cluster of boys, one of them beamed and leaned into the group as if sharing a piece of vital information. "Hey," the boy murmured secretively, "you know they say that Noriko-sensei spends her nights writing down punishments in a notebook," Kiba Inuzuka, a brunette boy with red triangular clan markings on each of his cheeks whispered to Naruto who grinned in reply.

A scream of "Excuse me? What did you just say?" interrupted their chat, and they tried to ignored the incoming Noriko-sensei by saying that they had no idea was she was talking about while the crowd swiftly ran away to the exit of the dojo, sprinting tirelessly to the entrance to the third years' schoolroom.

"And to think she was technically on our side," grumbled Sasuke as he panted slightly from the run.

"Troublesome," said Shikamaru.

The trio followed their classmates out after picking up various scrolls and blunted kunai from shelves and stuffing them into their bags and backpacks, watching as Kiba started to speak rather animatedly about what sounded like dogs to the same boy that Naruto had beaten earlier. Taking quick glimpses at each other, the friends collectively agreed that they should take a bit of time to visit Chouji to see how he was handling his food-related sickness before heading home. They all thought that it was really a shame that a guy like him that loves food was temporarily betrayed by it.

The boys shivered when they made it outside as the weather was getting cold. Autumn had just completed its foray upon the environment, but it had made way for the winter. Even though it did not normally become cold to the point that it was freezing in the Land of Fire, the climate felt unusually icy this time.

Naruto pulled his dark orange jacket closer to his person and led the way to the entrance to the Akimichi Compound located on an outer part of the village. The clan needed the space for their large training grounds that usually consisted of vast open areas and gigantic hills. It was imperative to use that space for performing their techniques like the Human Boulder. Because their practices took up so much room, they were given a fairly sizable piece of land when Konoha was created, and being considered one of the four noble clans along with the Aburame, Uchiha, and the Hyuuga was a plus in their favor as well.

They nodded to the clan members who were standing nearest to the entrance, the circular symbol of the Akimichi Clan painted in bright red upon a pair of greenish-brown wooden gates. The three were let inside and they casually made their way to Chouji's home where they knew they would be eagerly welcomed.

"Hey Chouji!" shouted the Namikaze happily after he had knocked on the doorframe and slipped off his sandals. "We came to visit you because we thought you'd be bored!"

It was a highly predictable fact that the main entrance to the household of any Akimichi would first lead to the dining area, and that is exactly what the trio had encountered as soon as they crossed the threshold. Sitting on a fluffed out red pillow at the base of a grand and elongated table was their friend, unhappily slurping a colorless looking soup from a porcelain bowl with square patterns painted all over it.

"Hi guys," Chouji moaned miserably. "I'm just eating my snack. You can come in. I think my mom knows you're here."

Shikamaru raised a thin eyebrow. "What happened and why are you eating that? It can't be that bad. I mean your mom's a great cook."

With a dramatic whimper, Chouji managed to explain to them that his mother had deduced that he had eaten bad rice the previous night when he had ventured out into the kitchen to grab his midnight snack. He had apparently taken the container of rice that she had set aside on the counter to be thrown out with the garbage in the morning. It was a frantic puking session from then on.

As for the soup, well…

"It's chicken broth," the sick child's mother came in just in time to clarify. Her hair was brown and cropped short and her arms were rounded with a bit more than healthy amounts of body fat. She was quite the large woman, but she radiated a homely atmosphere that surrounded her in copious amounts. "Can't have my little boy eating something too heavy after he just threw up everything he ate for the past day and a half…"

The youngest Akimichi pouted while his bottom lip was protruding. "But _mom_," he whined, putting emphasis on the 'o,' "I want some barbeque! This stuff's boring!"

That complaint earned him a smack to the back of his head and his mother started to reprimand him for being such a stubborn one. "Really Chouji," the woman sighed, "You either drink up or starve. This isn't the first time this happened in this household either, you know," and she waved a suddenly visible wooden spoon as she spoke, "When I was pregnant with you I had the strangest craving for crushed avocados with wasabi, mung beans, yellowtail fish collar (1), and dragon fruit. You're father decided to try it and let's just say that the next day I wasn't the one with morning sickness."

Naruto grimaced and glanced over at Sasuke who remotely seemed like he was about to be sick. Shikamaru did not look too well either as he was discreetly twitching his right eye. The Namikaze was about to make a comment on how that sounded _really gross_ when a sharp pain struck in the middle of his forehead out of nowhere. He blinked, taking in a breath and his eyes teared slightly. He did not notice the silence until it was too late and his friends were giving him inquisitive stares.

"Are you okay, dear?" inquired Chouji's mother concernedly. "You're looking rather peaky."

The blond roughly shook his head, all the while stating that he was fine.

Footsteps interrupted his thought process and a deep, bored voice echoed throughout the room. "Don't be too troublesome, Naruto," drawled Shikaku Nara who was a rather tall man with straight scars marring the right side of his forehead and his cheek. A similar spiky pineapple-like ponytail stuck up neatly on the top of his head just like his son, Shikamaru had. He wore a mesh undershirt underneath the traditional Konoha green jounin vest with a unique deerskin coat over that, and he sported a rather pointed goatee.

"I wouldn't want to have to explain any sudden sicknesses you might have to the Hokage," the man continued. "That would be a drag."

Naruto frowned and rubbed the middle of his forehead, wondering why the pain had turned into a dull but horrifying ache now. The blond thought that maybe he had a migraine. It definitely did not _feel_ pleasant.

"Nah, I think I'm fine," replied Naruto with a sidelong glance to Sasuke who raised a questioning eyebrow. "I think it's just a headache, but I probably should go just in case I got something. Mom is scary if I don't tell her stuff."

Shikamaru complained about his dad arriving a Chouji's in the background because apparently he was there to give the family a good Nara dose of upset-stomach-medicine (the Nara Clan was known for their expertise in creating medicines), because that also meant that his old man would have to walk him home otherwise Mrs. Nara would surely throw a troublesome fit. Sasuke offered to walk Naruto home, but the friend turned down his offer, saying that it would probably be better if he hung out with the group for a while, and anyway Mikoto was out on a mission so no one would be at the Uchiha Complex to cook anything for dinner.

So the blond got up, waved goodbye, and started on his way home towards the Hokage Mansion near the Tower and the Academy grounds, unconsciously touching his forehead all the while. He soon reached the entranceway and carefully slid off his sandals, noting the familiar presence of the few ANBU operatives that guarded the house at all times, and slipped in through the sliding doors.

"I'm home!" Naruto bellowed and he walked over to the kitchen, hoping to sip on a cold glass of water to distract him from his pounding head. The throbbing only seemed to worsen and it was worrying him. He had never had a headache before.

"Oh, Naruto," the melodic speech of his redheaded mother resounded beside him. She noticed her son reaching for a glass in the cupboards on his tiptoes and she fetched it for him. He opened the refrigerator with a _click _and pulled out the icy pitcher of water steadily and carefully tipped the container over his glass to catch the soothing liquid.

An abrupt harsh pain hit him in the temple again. There was a loud crash and the water spilled all over the tiles and shards of glass scattered rapidly on the flat. He distantly heard his mom yelp in surprise and she was surely about to scold him, but she stopped as soon as she thought of it because her son had sunken to his knees, clutching his head and was silently screaming. Naruto felt so much of that aching feeling in the center of his forehead that he did not have the strength to yell out.

"Naruto!" That was his mother who was gripping his shoulders like a lifeline. Her voice sounded fuzzy to his ears and he could not reply. "Naruto! What's wrong?!" He vaguely heard her shift a little and he imagined her desperate violet eyes searching for something, _anything_, to help her son.

"MINATO!" she bellowed. "Something's wrong! HURRY—" And it all went black for the boy who had totally collapsed on the pristine white tiles of the kitchen floor…

_But he had awoken inside his mind, unbeknownst to them all, and he was terrified._

_Naruto was in someplace strange. He was oddly walking atop an enormous pool of water and there was a sparkling waterfall before him that splashed droplets all over his clothing. Everything was bright and blue, and the background was the color of the sunset which flashed across a nonexistent sky. There was no sun, only light that seemed to stream from everywhere and in the gigantic space of water, there was only one thing besides the waterfall that disturbed the surface._

_It was bizarre, really. A circular metallic-looking table sat in the center. Sitting on top of it was a framed photograph except it was flipped over, its white back staring at him straight in the face. On its back was handwriting that appeared just like his. It was black and scrawny, and written in thick marker:_

_**UZUMAKI**_

_Whatever that meant. The blond had never been so confused in his life. What was his mother's surname doing on the back of a photograph anyway? _

_He reached out and was about to examine the object, but when the eight-year-old's fingers brushed up against the frame, he heard a voice that whispered disconnected sentences in his ears. He felt that he should know that voice because it sounded warm and familiar, but he couldn't quite place it and whatever the voice was saying he could not understand._

_A break appeared in the waterfall and a curtain of water separated into a triangle to reveal a dark interior behind it. A piece of thin rope dangled from the triangle's tip and tied to it was a set of keys that looked like they could be for someone's apartment complex, but Naruto did not find that odd at all. The keys seemed familiar somehow._

_The curious child walked over to the cascade and stood on his tip-toes as he unknotted the keys, and suddenly the water beneath him changed._

_The pool was golden underneath his bare feet. The liquid tickled unpleasantly against his skin, like a snake sliding nearby, cold and uninviting. It reflected his body ominously, the ripples ripping through the mirror image like multiple knives slicing him, and the air was biting and prickly. There was something evil there and he knew it, but he entered through the arch of water anyway._

_Despite his feelings of fear, Naruto bit his lip and proceeded towards a door with the metal numbers of _500_ bolted onto it. Somehow, he knew in his gut that this was the apartment door that the keys unlocked, and so he stuck them inside and twisted as he watched for the tell-tale click. He grabbed the knob which was as tall as his nose, and he struggled to push the door open._

_When he did finally see into the apartment, he was met was a wave of abnormal nostalgia as if he had been there before. A bed sat in the corner to his left with a poster of ramen pasted on the wall above it, and there were things strewn all over the floor, things that probably might have belonged to him. He stepped forward onto the rug that served as a welcome mat and he immediately regretted it because he fell right through._

"_WAH—" He tried to scream but the air was taken straight out of his lungs and he landed with a thud on his behind and yet another splash as gold water smacked him in the face._

_Now the place was dark and dank and pipes lined the walls. A cage with bars as tall as the Hokage Monument loomed in front of him and a paper tag with the symbol for "seal" scrawled upon it was attached to them._

"_Human," a deep rumbling sounded and Naruto was suddenly more terrified than he could ever remember being. "Be prepared."_

_The Namikaze gasped and the sight of a gigantic orange-red fox with glinting and knowing yellow eyes entered his vision. Its nine tails swished ominously behind its body. _

_He tried to question the creature with a trembling voice, for he was both confused and scared. "I—I don't get it. W—why…?"_

"_SILENCE." The fox cut the boy off easily and without remorse. "Be prepared, human," it boomed, "or we will be condemned. You must accept my power. _More are coming._ Be prepared."_

_And then he attempted to speak to it again, his lips shaking, but he closed his eyes for a second and everything turned bleached and everything vanished like nothing was ever there in the deep recesses of his mindscape. Everything was gone. There was no cage, there was no demonic fox to intimidate him, there was no strangely familiar apartment, nor the picture frame he was so curious about, nor the water, nor the keys._

Naruto blinked repeatedly and he found himself in the arms of his worried mother who was still crouching on the kitchen floor, his mop of blond hair on her lap. His father was touching his forehead with a wet cloth, a knit forming in between his eyebrows. Apparently he had only been knocked out for several minutes.

The child swiftly latched onto the sleeve of his mother's white shirt, a frantic look in his eye. "It said something's coming," he mumbled out loud. "Mommy what do I do?" He had turned to his mom specifically because he knew that she was the previous host. If anyone knew what to do, she definitely would, but that did not mean she understood what was running through her son's head.

"Naruto," the redhead asked gently. "What are you talking about? You fainted. Are you feeling alright?"

"Kyuubi," and at this word both of his parents' eyes widened in both shock and dismay, "it's talking to me."

ooo

_One month later…_

It was the beginning of January and the cold was suddenly biting. In fact, it had snowed in Konoha for the first time in twenty years. Naturally this would make any child currently living in the village undeniably excited and happy, and maybe a few of them would be bouncing off the walls. Surprisingly, the snow had stayed stuck to the ground for more than few days and people started to speculate that it would be there for two weeks at most. But even with all the joyfulness simmering around the crowds at the prospect of actual decently cold weather, the day would probably be so much better if Naruto did not feel so incredibly irritated.

The blond in question was staring at his black snow boots, watching as the soles crunched satisfactorily on the white blanket beneath them. He was on his way out from the Academy as class had just ended for the day, but this just so happened to be one of the rare occasions that he was alone. Sasuke had to hurriedly exit the classroom to help with chores around his home because apparently important guests from the Village Hidden in the Clouds and from the Sand Village as well were coming to town within the week, and the main clans of Konoha had to be prepared for an timely visit just in case.

The young Uchiha had groaned in defeat when he told his best friend of his predicament as the two had planned on training with Itachi and Kakashi for a few hours before his mother announced that neither of her sons would have their hands free on that day. Even Sasuke's older brother seemed just a bit disappointed. Kakashi, on the other hand, was the student of the Yondaime, and even though he had finally laid down his dog mask after almost eight years of service in the ANBU and even as a captain, he was part of "making a good impression."

All the political mumbo-jumbo made their heads hurt.

Unfortunately, that was not all that was making the Hokage's son so irritated, and that emotion clearly showed up on the scowl that was upon his face.

"Stupid Shou," the boy muttered angrily to himself. "Stupid test. Stupid dad and him being the Hokage. Stupid school," and he paused abruptly for a split second to stomp a foot onto the ground, leaving a deep impression in the snow as he left behind a trail of footprints and petulantly continued on his way home, a frown forming.

So to top off the fact that his plans to train with his friend were nipped in the bud, there was an annoying little prick named Shou Sato that marred what could be his cheerful thoughts. Naruto could have been totally content with himself because they had recently taken an exam on hand seals in the Academy and he had aced it. If he were honest with himself, hand seals really were not his forte. The concept appeared so foreign to him most times that he would sometimes begin to wonder how he had gotten so far in his shinobi training in the first place. After all, making hand signs and positioning your fingers into the right places for certain techniques was an integral part of being a ninja.

Nonetheless, the boy was so pleased with his accomplishment. He had worked hard to do well on that test and stared at his _Ninja Hand Signs and Basic Techniques _textbook for hours, trying to ingrain the information in his head. He had not done too well on the small quizzes his class had received on hand signs previously and he had this incredible urge to redeem himself and make his parents proud.

He wanted to be a talented ninja that his village and his family could flaunt around and be honored to have produced. After all, if he was friends with an Uchiha with a genius of a brother, if he had a brother-like figure in his life that was the genius student of the genius Fourth Hokage, if the Hokage was his own father, and if his mother was a renowned kunoichi as well, he had a lot to live up to especially if he wanted to take the hat from his dad someday in the future.

Naruto had even asked his Kakashi-nii for help when he could not understand the concept of the dragon seal and how it actually symbolized strength, fire, power, and capacity, and rather why it was a seal used to make a technique less vulnerable.

But really, even with the amount of work he had put into trying to pass one of the biggest exams of their year, he was so shocked to have gotten all of the questions correct. The exam had been the most difficult they had taken in their third year of schooling, and really he was only one of the very few that actually passed with flying colors. Even though Sasuke passed, he still got a handful of the questions wrong, but he was satisfied enough with his grade because his previous quiz scores on the same subject balanced everything out. Naruto was just glad he had caught up and was no longer close to failing in that subject.

However, when the chuunin instructor handed back their papers, a sparking red one-hundred percent written at the top of his, his classmate, Shou Sato just _had _to point out that "Mr. Almost-Failing-Hand-Signs-Class got such a good grade and probably had cheated because there was no way that he could have _possibly _passed that thing without some help."

Naruto had stared at the tanned skinned boy with messy black hair that stuck up in the front and pointed an accusatory finger at the boy's sharp and freckled nose as he watched Shou's dull gray eyes start to cross while looking at where Naruto had placed his finger. The blond had subsequently refuted that statement by saying, "Take that back! I studied really hard for this test!"

The classmate had glowered and replied, "No way. You were one of the worst of us here until now," then he put on the most disgusting smirk and added, "You probably got _daddy _to step in, didn't you? It's all because you're the _Hokage's son_."

The Namikaze shuddered at the memory and how absolutely furious he had gotten afterward. More than half the class, including Sasuke, Shikamaru, Chouji, and astonishingly the timid Hinata Hyuuga was up in arms in his defense and shouted and accused the bully for being such an enormously jealous freak and that he should keep to himself because even with the surprising grade that Naruto had received, the eight-year-old was _never _an advocate of cheating and everyone knew it, including the teacher.

"My dad would never do that! He's not like that and he'd probably kill me if I asked him to!" the jinchuuriki had heatedly answered back, even as the class was practically defending him.

To that, the teacher commented with a sigh and shook his head, white locks of aging hair swaying from side to side at the sight of such disarray. "Sato," the man had dictated steadfastly and with the wrinkles under his eyes crinkling with the use of his student's last name, "I'll have to know that Hokage-sama is not that kind of man and that he has absolutely no influence over his son's education here at the Academy. Here, he is simply just a student's parent and nothing else. If any Hokage had a hand in their offspring's education here, then the son of our Sandaime would have surely graduated earlier.

"If I were you, I would instead focus on the fact that I had failed the hand seals exam rather than pushing my frustration out on other pupils," the chuunin had said finally with an eyebrow raised and that was the end of that.

And so with that recollection still brightly fresh on his mind, the young blond persisted to stomp on his way to the front entrance of his house and through the sliding doors where he was immediately intercepted by something broad and kind of hard, but definitely human. He had run headfirst into the back of his father.

The kid growled and attempted to sidestep the man while he headed to the stairs that lead up to the second storey (2) where his bedroom was, but he resigned himself to defeat when he felt the back of his jacket being hooked up by a hand and soon his feet were dangling above the wooden panels of the floor.

Minato chuckled as he raised his son higher up with his arm. "Woah there," he remarked jokingly, "No 'I'm home'? If your mother were back from shopping for groceries, I don't think she would appreciate that."

"Dad!" Naruto complained as he kicked and struggled in his father's grip, "Get off me!"

The Yellow Flash only beamed and dropped his son like a sack of potatoes. The child scrambled to his feet immediately and picked up his fallen book bag, not noticing that the exam he had just gotten back had slipped out from between the folders inside, and not noticing that fact that his father had definitely seen the stapled papers slide out and had leaned over to pick them up as his son huffed.

The younger Namikaze was about to step past the first few steps when he heard the papers ruffle in the background and Minato chimed "I see someone did very well on his big exam," the smile abundantly evident in his voice. "Good job. If I remember correctly, this was one of the harder units in the curriculum…"

Naruto sighed and walked up to him, quickly snatching the thick papers away from his parent's prying eyes. "Doesn't matter," he ground out, "I'm going upstairs and sleeping."

The kid scoffed when he felt Minato snatch him by the back of his clothing again. He asked himself why his dad was being particularly nosy that day and what he did to deserve it. This must be Murphy's Law (3) or something. Everything that can go wrong will go wrong, he supposed sadly.

The Fourth crossed his arms on his chest while giving his son a suspicious look. "With that kind of attitude, of course I'm going to be curious." Then with an intense sparkle in his gaze, he placed a hand on the back of Naruto's coat and guided him to the circular kitchen table where the two of them sat down across from each other, chairs screeching, face-to-face.

"Now," the father went on sternly, "You know you can't hide everything from me."

Naruto exhaled and glanced downward, fiddling with the endings of his coat sleeves. He had only just now realized that he had forgotten to take it off when he entered the Hokage Mansion and was sorely regretting it. He thought that maybe if he did not have a hood at his back then it would not be as easy for his dad to snatch him like that.

The child thought of school and how his friends defended him in the face of adversity. He really did have great friends, but even so, the incident with Shou really felt like a wakeup call. He had not really thought of the fact that people could be wary of him or even envious of him just because of who he was, and for some odd reason, the youth started to feel horrible about getting such a fantastic grade on his test. Somehow, it did not seem quite fair, so he told his father so even with how uncomfortable about the entire situation he was at first.

He said everything from the beginning; how he had studied with absolute dedication, how he had asked for help when he needed it (and Minato could attest to that because he was admittedly impressed when he witnessed part of that), how he was utterly stunned when he received the final score, and of course how he had been slightly bullied afterward.

"Naruto," his father stressed calmly as he stared seriously into his son's azure irises. "You don't have to apologize for being successful."

"But—" And Minato held up a palm to stop him from talking. Naruto shut his mouth straightaway.

"You have to understand that being prosperous is about working hard to earn what you have. It is not all based on the injustice of society or who your family is," the Hokage acknowledged with conviction, "In order to gain success, you have to work hard _first_ and you have to _keep_ working hard to maintain that success. Maybe you need a little luck too, and maybe it helps to be in the right place at the right time, but you have to remember that recognition is the act of standing out because you have strived to be the best you can be. Nothing was made to be free, son. If things were, don't you think this Shou boy would have gotten a passing grade on his exam just because he asked for it? And wouldn't you have for that matter?"

By the end of his short lecture, Minato was intently trying to gauge the reaction that he was expecting from the younger blond. For a moment he was imagining some sort of outburst or for a passionate retort about how things _still weren't fair anyway_. What he did not expect, however, was what Naruto said next.

"Oh," the boy frowned, "But what about him then? Are there really people out there like him that hate me because I'm your son?" He bit his lip then added, his voice a whisper, "…like those people who took me away before? Like Riku?"

The Yondaime blinked and suddenly a rush of internal thoughts bombarded his mind and he tried to sieve through them carefully, gently, but they came like a violent river, like white washed water splashing hard against jagged rocks made of doubt and confusion.

"_I hate you," _he remembered the enemy shinobi spitting that in his face. He remembered the aftereffects of his first kill and how conflicted he felt about it, but he knew that he had no choice. He had to kill that woman. If he didn't, they would have taken the scroll of vital information on the Leaf Village and everything he held dear would have been danger. The Leaf would have burned.

"_I hate you_,_" _she hissed in his memories. The female was faceless to him now, but he recalled all too well that look in her eyes, the haunted, terribly horrified look she shot at him as his kunai dripped with the crimson of the blood he had drawn. _"You killed her. You killed my little sister. I'll never forgive you."_

After that, Minato remembered that the scroll somehow made it into his team's possession and their forced B-rank mission was completed successfully even though they were only green genin. The forest had exploded in blinding light behind them as they scampered off into the darkness and the trees had rustled in agitation. He knew the kunoichi had died.

But they were in the middle of a war. That was the way things were. At that point, he remembered how he tried not to think about what he had done. After all, his team and Jiraya-sensei had thought nothing of it because of the world they had lived in. Young, freshly graduated Academy students were pushed into war because they needed all the manpower they could get. He had to kill, even at that age.

Minato was only ten then.

"Listen, son," the older Namikaze said as he shook his thoughts away. The solemnity in his tenor caused the boy in question to perk up. "There are people like your classmate who are easily influenced by their envy and try to get the easy way out, and we both know that that's wrong because there are never any shortcuts to true success. Those are the kinds of people you should not worry about because their path of jealousy is of their own design and they cannot get anywhere that way," and he glimpsed at the intricate grains of wood on the table, not looking Naruto in the eye, "but then there are other people that can't let go of their hatred; they can't learn to forgive…

"I'm not going to pretend that there are no people that hate you because of who you are. You and I know that would be a lie. But those people are the ones that cannot see past what they hate. They only see the act and not the reason, and eventually their hatred becomes blinding."

Naruto tilted his head to the side. "I don't really get it."

The father put on a bittersweet smile. "I don't expect you to. I don't understand it either," and he shook his head at the belief, "but we're human, you know. We love and we hate and often the two come together. They are my enemies because I was forced to defend my home in the war back then, and they hate me because I succeeded many times. I suppose you can say that the anger is justified, but two wrongs don't make a right." He saw his son stare at him in awe for the first time and he relaxed his shoulders. "This is the kind of world we live in, but you can avoid that cycle too, like many others before have, if only you just make an attempt to understand _why _someone despises you rather than concentrating on hating them back.

"You need to learn forgiveness."

"Okay," said the younger of the two. "I promise to always get past my hatred."

The pair sat in silence for a while after that, both basking in the gravity of what those words held, and for the first time, Minato realized that he should put his own lesson to use because he really needed to learn to forgive as well. There was a good amount of people that he had yet to fully forgive.

But in the moment, it was just the two of them, sitting there and understanding the things they never thought they could understand, and eventually they stood up together in unison when they heard the loud _bang _that indicated the incoming red tornado that was Kushina.

For that short while—Kushina excitedly added into the mix—they were just a family and not a family of shinobi. The mother was barking orders at her husband and son who were unwittingly agreeing to do everything she commanded. They were probably going to have guests after all, and she pointedly glared at Minato who explained to Naruto that Suna and Kumo were coming that week and all the significant Clans and the Hokage had to make a great impression, but he supposed that he had already figured that out, considering his best friend was an Uchiha.

So they were normal for a bit. Well, as normal as they could get. Minato was ushered off to sweep the staircase and Naruto was told to make the living room appear presentable. ("Kushina, why does our son get the easy job?!")

Naruto never got the nap he deserved, but at least the house was clean enough for the political figures to invade it.

ooo

The week was at its middle and that meant that the emissaries from the Sand and Cloud would come knocking at their front door that very day. Minato grumbled as he thought about that, laying his forehead on the wide desktop before him and lifting it up in seconds.

The Hokage's office was as organized as it could get. The usually towering piles of paperwork were at considerably lowered stacks, but that also meant that the Hokage had been there since the crack of dawn the previous day and it was already afternoon a day later.

He had not been home in more than twenty-four hours because he had to finish as much paperwork as possible before the peace talks could come into fruition. It was times like these that he was grateful to have such an understanding family because his wife and son decided to have a sleepover in his office with him.

Of course nothing helped when they had to leave and his super pervert of a teacher had sauntered in afterward.

"Honestly, Minato," Jiraya laughed boisterously. "You're too idealistic for your own good!"

The blond smiled and quipped, "Says the man who tries to change the world through his debauched books."

"They're good reads!" The Sannin interjected quickly and defensively. "Besides, I'm not saying your idealism is a bad thing. In fact, you could say we need more leaders like you. Idealism is the key to changing things." He grinned and continued, "And without idealistic annoying geniuses like you, I'd have no one to brag about!"

The Hokage groaned loudly as he dropped his head unceremoniously and dramatically to his chest. "At first you started sounding utterly philosophical and then it turned into an unadulterated insult. I'm touched. Really.

"Besides, all I'm saying is that if this treaty with Kumo is successful, and my plan to allow our ally, Suna, into it is as well, we'll be one step closer to a more unified shinobi front and maybe the other elemental nations will want to follow suit. It isn't a bad thing."

"No, no, of course not," the older man waved his hand in dismissal, "It's a good thing, yeah. But once you got this whole 'unifying the entire world' thing down—which I totally support by the way—I'm looking forward to the spread of my very valuable literature."

"Let me guess," Minato deadpanned, "you just can't wait to have the opportunity to see the more 'exotic kinds of women' in the other hot springs."

"That's right! You really are a genius, my precious student!"

The Fourth's eye twitched multiple times before he found it on his conscience to reply. "Honestly, you really are a hopeless case. There has to be a way to make peeking illegal. I'm sure the Council would wholeheartedly approve. Although Kakashi has developed a disturbing interest in your erotic novels, so I wouldn't put it past him to attempt to veto that idea instantly…"

Teacher and student continued their explicit bantering, shifting conversation topics from teasing Minato for not being able to hold his alcohol for more than a pathetic number of drinks, to the lure of naked women, to how Sarutobi would want in on the peeking as well. Though the Hokage frowned and defensively stated that he was _married_ and that his mentor really needed to _get a grip and drag Tsunade back to Konoha so that he could get married too_.

And as this occurred, these brief few minutes of joking that was nowhere near worrisome, the gates of the Hidden Leaf finally opened to reveal that the representatives from the Sand had arrived with Cloud not too far behind. The Hokage would be notified immediately, and the talks would begin.

The seven shinobi from both nations were thoroughly checked and their passports were carefully scrutinized by multiple Konoha shinobi and ABNU, and finally they were let in through the massive green gates that led into the village proper by the bored-looking gate guards who called themselves Izumo and Kotetsu.

As the whole village was formerly notified of the peace talks with Kumo and the additional presence of their allies, everyone was excitedly crowding around them. There was much chatter and the guests were happily greeted and welcomed with wide arms. Civilians threw confetti from the rooftops as many knew that Kumo had been their adversary in recent years virtually almost as much as Iwa had been. Bunches of people parted and they were led to the base of the Hokage Tower by a small squad of three cloaked and masked ANBU.

The three hailing from the Cloud were a mostly serious group, save for one young girl with dark blue locks of hair cropped shaggily to the end of her chin who was bouncing on the balls of her sandaled feet. She had intense black eyes that seemed to twinkle oddly with every inch she decided to move and she wore a pure white kimono with the typical gray-white and one strapped jounin vest over the top. The forehead protector of her home village with the stylized symbol of three clouds was tied tightly around the top of her right shoulder. The girl appeared to be very youthful, maybe even a child, as her height paled in comparison to the other two adults travelling with her.

The second female of the Cloud team was a stoic woman with long dirty blond hair bound with taut bandages and dark eyes. She wore a short-sleeved black and purple blouse and black pants, both of which had a design that suggested clouds on them, purple fingerless gloves and a chain of white beads wound around her left hand. She also wore the standard Kumo forehead protector and wore bandages around her arms and legs as well as a red belt around her waist.

"Yuriko, Yugito," the eldest man from Kumo turned to speak with his subordinates briefly as they cut their way through the throngs of people. He was known as the Head Ninja of his village, only second in command to the Raikage himself. He was a brunette with a scruffy, short, and pointed beard. Bandages were wrapped around his head to the point where you could not see the rest of his hair and a hitai-ate covered their ends and slanted over his right eye. "Behave yourselves," he ordered, and they looked on to the Tower with significance.

Behind them was the group of four Sand ninja. Only one of which was stern adult. A pair of streaks of bright red face paint decorated his right cheek and a cream cloth covered the other half of his face.

"Remember that the reason you three are here is because this is a political gesture of trust," Baki explained urgently to the three children that trailed behind them. None of them appeared to be ninja quite yet. The oldest seemed to be a girl who was around twelve and had four blond ponytails tied tightly to the back of her head. The second in line was a brown haired boy with a pout of his face, a few messily done portions of purple paint defined his facial features, and the last one looked to be the youngest. He had close-cropped red hair, dark edges around his light green eyes that might have been from insomnia, and a gruesome fresh-looking scar over where one of his eyebrows should have been that resembled the kanji for love.

"The Yondaime Kazekage wants to show that he trusts the Hokage," continued the single adult, "especially after he allowed Suna to take part in their peace talks with Kumo. Both kages know how much our economy needs this, and the fact that the Hokage is even letting us become potential candidates for allies of Kumo so that we can trade with them is a huge plus in our favor. Your father is sending you out in his stead. You would do well to remember that."

He looked pointedly to Temari, the eldest sibling, and added, "That means you three must keep yourselves in line and no killing anybody. Not here," then he glanced over to the redhead, "Gaara."

"I kill if mother tells me to," murmured the child, his eyes downcast and maybe a little sad.

And they traversed along behind their fellow ninja, thoughts of a potential and permanent peace taking up most of their thoughts, save for a few who honestly could not give enough of their effort in to care and the snow crunched below their feet.

Meanwhile, the Yondaime's son carefully pushed open the double doors that led to the Hokage's office, fully aware that he had to hurry up and finish his errand before the representatives arrived. "Dad, I got you some soup. It's pretty cold outside and you probably forgot to eat again…"

He held out the warm metal thermos to his father, who was still quirking an eyebrow at something Jiraya had said.

Exhaling, the Hokage replied that he would make sure to eat it before things got overly busy and that Naruto really should head back out because their guests would be in the office in minutes.

"And speaking of that," Minato craned his neck to glimpse over at one of the Legendary Sannin, "My perverted sensei should _really _put away the bottles of sake before anyone notices and decides to tarnish my reputation because of my supposed alcoholic tendencies…"

"Aw, c'mon brat," the white-haired adult moaned, "You can't blame me for wanting to test out your alcohol intake. You did say that you've gotten better at it!"

"Not _now _sensei! I'm not Gamabunta!" He gestured indignantly to Naruto who was staring, open-mouthed, at the duo. "And my son is here! What kind of horrible influence are you? Why did Kushina and I make you his godfather? What were we _thinking_?"

Jiraya had a wide grin on his expression. "If I remember correctly, something along the lines of '_You're a man with true skill…an example we should all follow. I can't think of a finer shinobi than you!_' You really can't take back your words now."

The Hokage objected and Naruto was confused.

Then an ANBU wearing a boar's mask poof-ed into existence before his commander's desk and the trio in the room could tell that he had been listening in to a least part of the conversation because his whole figure screamed that he was trying to hide his amusement and definitely failing.

"Lord Hokage," the shinobi muttered soundly, a slight tone of underlying mirth in his tenor, "The emissaries from Suna and Kumo have come. Shall I let them into your office now?"

Well, so much for Naruto leaving before the visitors reached their destination. At that, the leader gave his offspring a look that silently told him that he was to behave and not say anything that was unnecessary for the duration of their stay, to which the boy nodded and agreed with wholeheartedly. He did not want to be the cause of an international dispute. In Shikamaru's terms, that would be highly troublesome.

The eldest Namikaze waved at the entrance and instantly seven shinobi entered into his field of vision. They stood ready and at attention, greeting them with both essential politeness and dignity.

But even in the course of action, Naruto suddenly felt extremely uneasy. It was not the fact that he was surrounded by virtually unknown foreign ninja, but the fact that two of them really stood out to him. The blond woman from Kumo barely even twitched and for some reason that bothered him, and not to mention the creepy boy from Suna that looked to be about his own age who had the dark circles around his eyes.

A deep voice from a memory in the not-too-distant past resounded in his head that rumbled, "_More are coming. Be prepared._" He shuddered unconsciously, thankful that no one noticed his trembling fingers and he made an attempt to keep his breathing normal. The boy did not care to realize that he was backing up into the darkest corner available until he heard the voice of who he supposed was the leader of the Kumo squad. Apparently, the group was in the middle of introducing themselves.

"And who exactly am I speaking with today?" the Head Jounin inquired with a sigh as he observed the petite blue-haired girl to his left. Then, he furthered in his explanation at the questioning looks of the Konoha shinobi in the room, "My apologies, Hokage-sama, but my subordinate has a bit of a…condition, if you will. The question is necessary." (4)

"Yuri," replied the girl nonchalantly and who was still as a glass doll, effectively ignoring the heads that turned in her direction.

"Then stop staring like that, Yuriko," the man demanded coldly. "It's unnerving."

"I told you to call me 'Yuri.'" And the strange female tilted her head, her eyes still gazing off into the distance somewhere that no one else could see. "And I like staring. It makes me notice things that other people can't." She reached up with a pointed index finger, singling out a certain area of the room with her gesture. "Like the little monster in that corner over there," she sang.

Naruto stiffened and his heart pounded painfully in his chest. It wasn't as if he was hiding; he was _supposed _to be there, but the fact that this eerie teenaged girl had pointed him out like that…that was scary. And he couldn't help but wonder if this girl _knew _about his secret, if she had somehow peered deep into his soul and his psyche to see exactly what he had to hide, and his pupils shifted to take a look at the redheaded kid without his consent.

The blond stepped out more into the open and smiled shakily. He did not see the speedily alert gaze of his godfather in response to the comment. "Ah," he stuttered out, "I'm Naruto N—Namikaze. Nice to meet you," and he bowed curtly.

"Your son, Hokage-sama?" the jounin of the Sand Village asked and at the confirming nod he received, he inclined his head towards the eight-year-old and said, "Quite pleased and honored that you are here."

"And we are honored that the Kazekage has taken upon himself to offer the Leaf with the confidence of looking after his children while you are here, Baki," complimented Minato as he folded his palms on top of his mahogany desk. "We will be sure to show them around the village during their stay. I'm sure as aspiring genin, it will be in their great interest to learn of another ninja village."

He motioned over to his son and he suggested that Naruto be the one to give the Sand siblings a tour while the jounin stayed behind to negotiate. The young jinchuuriki bit his bottom lip and soon agreed to do what he was told.

They were off and out of the office in seconds, leaving the more experienced ninja to do the political dealings.

The four children walked out from the base entrance of the Tower confidently, Naruto relaxing his shoulders significantly after his own self-imposed tension was ended. Now that he was away from the Kumo ninja, he no longer felt that uneasiness around Gaara as he did before. Although he still felt just a little wary, he was comfortable around the siblings for the most part. He was not afraid.

He placed his arms on the back of his head and his winter coat rode up his stomach a bit. "So where do you guys want to go?" And he faced the trio with a kind smile. The emotionless redhead was internally surprised at the gesture, but did not say a word.

The answer was given to him when he heard a grumbling sound coming from the brunette boy with face paint and Naruto burst out laughing.

"A food place, then," the blond male commented. "I'll bring you to the best place there is! Ichiraku Ramen! I hope you like it!" With a grin still splitting his face in half, the boy walked backwards until he was nearest to the preteen that was obviously the hungry one. "Kankuro, right?"

The second oldest of the Kazekage's children nodded uncertainly.

"I'm really bad at remembering names, so sorry if I get it wrong the first few times, ya know. I'm not as smart as my old man."

Temari frowned as she followed behind her brothers, all the while keeping a tentative eye on her youngest one. "The Hokage isn't that old though."

In response, Naruto only chuckled again. "Nah, not to other people he's not. But to me, dad's ancient. There's no way a guy like him could know that much and not be really, _really_ old. My mom, though…I'll just say she's young forever otherwise she'll probably murder me. Scary woman…"

They came to a partially outdoor ramen stand with an entrance covered in cloth flags with writing sewed onto them. The Hokage's son led the trio to the front where he shouted at "old man Teuichi" to make them eight bowls of hot, steamy, miso ramen noodles with extra pork. The extra five bowls were for Naruto's extensive appetite and bottomless pit of a stomach, of course.

Temari, taking responsibility as the oldest sibling, was about to sit nearest to Gaara, who appeared perpetually angry at the world and was practically seeping less and less emotion as time went on, when Naruto intercepted and placed a steaming bowl right in front of him. Nevertheless, she was shocked when the boy sat on the stool directly next to her little brother.

He beamed at Gaara, who still had not said anything and clasped a hand on his back. Temari tensed when she noticed sand started to agitatedly swirl in Naruto's direction, but exhaled in relief when it did nothing more than that. Somehow, this boy was affecting her brother in strange ways and she could not say it was a terrible bad thing.

"You and I are around the same age, right?" the Namikaze asked. He basically brushed off the impassive glower he was receiving and the slight tingle of anxiety he felt for a split second. "That means we're the same year in the Academy!

"I'm definitely sure that we can be friends, ya know! You should meet my friends Sasuke, and Chouji, and Shikamaru…you'll like them! They're great!"

The redhead parted his lips in a momentary bout of surprise. The swirling sand slipped away and vanished into the gourd that was strapped on his back.

"Well, c'mon! Why don't you eat something Gaara? Your brother over there sure is enjoying himself!" And the blond-haired boy divided his chopsticks apart and began to slurp on the noodles from one of the five bowls of ramen that were set in front of him. "It'sth definitely the besth, ya know!" His words were muffled by the food in his mouth, but somehow Gaara didn't care and his siblings were amazed even as they themselves ate less enthusiastically.

But most shocking to the brother and sister was the fact that their little brother did in fact indulge in his food at the request. He had blinked, confusion flashing on his features and hesitantly consumed a small piece of pork.

"I—it's good," the boy muttered quietly, to which Naruto continued to lighten the atmosphere with laughter and continuous talking. For the rest of lunchtime, the sand never slithered out of the gourd again.

Afterwards, the Sand siblings plus the Fourth's offspring exited the establishment with satisfied appetites. The chatterbox that was Naruto Namikaze asked all three siblings a lot of questions, inquiring about life in the Sand Village, and adding in his thoughts and experiences with life in the Leaf. He pointed out notable areas like the carvings on the Hokage Mountain, and he talked about how the curriculum at the Academy was for him.

But as he lead them to the training grounds explicitly reserved for Academy students only, Gaara of the Sand could not help but ponder why he felt so attached to this boy, why he even considered thinking of him as a _friend_ of all things.

"_Another resides in him_," mother boomed inside his mind, but he did not understand what that meant.

After all, almost a year ago was when the incident happened. Almost as year ago was when mother wanted to kill his uncle Yashimaru and when the One-Tailed Shukaku rampaged the Sand Village. No one seemed to like him before, and even his own family was wary of him at times, but he had accepted it, saying that his heart hurt and that it was a wound he could not seem to heal.

But uncle Yashimaru had pointed out that the best way to put medicine on a wound like that was love, that he had a mother who loved him, that if he could make friends then his chest would not feel so painful anymore…that he wouldn't be so alone…

But mother never really loved him, did she? Uncle had said. Was it all a lie? He didn't know.

This boy though…he was the first since his uncle that was never afraid of him. He was the first who seemed to not mind him at all. He treated him like a person and not a monster, not a demon. Gaara wanted to know how this was possible, so he voiced his thoughts.

"Why aren't you afraid of me?" mumbled Gaara, breaking the comfortable silence that embraced the group for a while. His light green eyes were wide with disbelief and his siblings abruptly stood still.

"Why should I be afraid of you?" Naruto questioned, and the boy grinned gently at his fellow jinchuuriki—though he did not know what they shared in common—beckoning him to come closer so that they could walk side-by-side.

Gaara of the Sand had never been so confused, relieved, and even kind of angry with himself in his entire short existence, but for a moment the hurt on his heart disappeared and something akin to warmth spread from deep within him, a calming balm, a feeling of acceptance.

He hoped this feeling would last.

ooo

The peace talks went well and Kumo had agreed to allow Suna in on their trade planes; gold dust for iron weaponry. Minato suggested to Baki that the Sand jumpstart a textile industry as that would also boost their economy and he could not help but marvel at the fact that kunoichi from all over admired the quality of the lasting fabrics. This lead to slight teasing from Jiraya, who implied that his student probably was more in touch with his feminine side than most men were.

The comment was not appreciated and subsequently ignored.

Nevertheless, Baki agreed to the idea, saying that it was a fact he was not aware of before because his village never concentrated on trading textiles, but rather on the Kazekage's talent with golden sand and grappling with shinobi missions.

Kumo offered to trade iron for some of Konoha's abundant medicinal plants.

All was well and everyone was rejoicing. All that was left was to sign the final contracts the following morning. It was already late into the evening and the jounin had parted, going to their separate hotels and leaving the Hokage behind to finish some last minute paperwork well into the night. He knew he wouldn't come home until later, but his wife and son were already aware of that. He would make up for it later.

But in the darkness something ominous moved in the grass, rustling the leaves behind the Hyuuga Compound, and the masters of the bloodline limit of the infamous all-seeing eye, the Byakugan, would not be stirred awake until it was too late. The trespasser's blue hair wavered in the moonlight as she stared through the square window and at the small, innocent little girl lying in bed. She was the daughter of Hiashi Hyuuga, the heiress that will inherit the Clan. How perfect.

And yet another disturbance joined the Uchiha Compound simultaneously, a feline-like smirk on the face of the intruder, and she quietly tiptoed on the wooden floorboards of someone else's home…

_Creak_.

Naruto stirred awake. He shoved off the comforter and his ears perked up as he heard the noise yet again.

_Creak._

He gulped. Something was there and he was still half asleep. This was bad. This was very, very bad. He didn't know what to do besides yank his sandals on, his pajama pants whipping out as he quietly jumped from the mattress and onto the floor. Glancing to his bedside table, he took the one pouch of meager weapons that he owned and clipped it around his thigh. He was not allowed to own a full set yet because he wasn't quite a shinobi.

He heard a loud crash and leaped into the air in fright. Eyes wide and scared, the blond pulled open the door that led to the outside of his room and he sprinted down the hallway.

"Trying to get me again, Kumo?!" He heard his mother's voice bellow furiously. "I don't think so, ya know!" Another booming noise and a "Kushina-sama, he's already down!" He deduced that that was probably one of the ANBU that watched the house. That meant whatever provoked his irate mother was serious.

Naruto turned a corner and rapidly ran down the stairs. The boar masked ANBU glanced upward from the twitching body of what looked to be the Head Jounin from Kumogakure who was crushed heavily into the tiles of their kitchen. His mom was fuming beside him, a fist still raised in anger and her hair seemed to be made out of flames.

"Mom!" the boy shouted in surprise. "What happened? What's this guy doing here?" He skidded to a halt beside them.

"WHAT _HAPPENED_?! I'll tell you, ya know! The Cloud ninjas are nothing but dirty, filthy, little—" She roared, but she was cut off by the decidedly calmer façade of the ANBU guard.

"We defeated the enemy quickly, Naruto-sama," remarked the man seriously. "But his attack means that the Cloud has betrayed us and that others are in grave danger. Considering their interest in our bloodline limits and their considerable lack of them, they probably attacked your mother in an attempt to capture her for her special Uzumaki chakra."

"Wait," Naruto gasped. "Bloodline limits? You mean doujutsu?!" His eyes widened in realization. "Sasuke! The Hyuuga!"

Boar nodded grimly.

"We've got to help them!" the boy exclaimed and he headed to the door but was stopped by the same ANBU.

"No," said the man. "You will go to the safety of the Hokage Tower this time. Your mother has agreed to assist with this mission and I'm sure the Hokage will agree that she will be sufficient help. You, on the other hand, are not yet a ninja.

"You will meet the Kazekage's children when you get there and the Hokage has already been notified. Shikaku-sama will use his tactical knowledge to aid us in nullifying the threat. I assure you that the Uchiha and the Hyuuga will be safe by the end of this night." He then nodded to a wall and another masked ninja melted into existence. This one had a cat mask on.

Cat was told to escort Naruto to the Tower and Kushina nodded resolutely in the direction of her son before she huffed irritably and disappeared with the other man, no doubt bent on knocking heads together.

The hurried to the base of the Tower, quickly spotting the trio that was the Sand siblings. Baki must have been assisting with the problem; he was part of the alliance after all. That was probably why the Kazekage's children were to be put under security surveillance.

But just when safety was in sight, just when they could enter the safety of the Tower's inherent barrier, the dam broke. Naruto should have known that plans in the shinobi world never actually flourished fully because something always, _always _would go wrong, no matter how perfect the plan was , no matter how intricately thought out a strategy was. There were a million and one ways things could explode in your face.

And that's exactly what happened.

"Mokuton!" Cat shouted and the three siblings instinctively dived behind him and Naruto. The ground rumbled beneath them and thick slivers of wood erupted out and formed a dome-like shield around them.

For a moment, it seemed like nothing collided, but they were soon proved wrong. All five of them were blasted backwards and they grunted on the impact. The sizzling that signaled a leftover technique resounded in their eardrums and the wall that had protected them previously had exploded into shards of pointed wood; a crater of blackened earth was in its place while the debris flew across the street in all directions while some scraped the sides of buildings.

A small girl appeared in the smoke, her hair seemed bluer than it was what Naruto first met her. He fingered the clip of his weapons pouch and eyes her rippling form cautiously. Her feet were sparkling with tendrils of lightning. That couldn't be good.

"You're that girl," he mumbled in comprehension as he and the rest of the group stood up.

She sighed and looked away like she could not bear to see his face because of fear. "I thought we already met, little demon," and both Gaara and Naruto tensed at that statement.

"I'm not a demon!" the Namikaze growled, thoughts rapidly shifting to the very real monster that was locked within his gut. "You take that back!"

"I have a name you know," the girl murmured while biting her lip. For a person who had tried to kill them not a few seconds ago, she looked awfully shy. "My name is Yuriko. You can call me 'Yuri' for short or you could—" Suddenly she stopped talking altogether and her entire countenance changed. Her dark pupils seemed to dilate and her shyness abruptly left her. Upon its place was a feral grin.

"I'm Koh," she spat out instead. "And I'd like to kill you…I'd like to see you little twerps squirm while I shove my kunai down your throat."

Naruto gasped and she ran towards them at an unreal pace, the cloth of her white kimono ruffled in the air and she licked a kunai before throwing it and multiple others towards them. He tried to duck, but he knew that there wasn't enough time to dodge it.

A barrier of sand whipped around to block anything from hitting them and he only took a moment to not that it came from the strange clay gourd that Gaara had strapped to his back.

Cat stopped for a second, ushering the kids to make run for it, and made a series of hand signs, shouting, "Wood Release: Wood Spikes Rising!" In quick succession, the technique formed and spikes shot out of the earth with each step Koh took towards them, but she was able to avoid every single one of them, sliding from left to right until one last one rose just in front of the ANBU where she leaped into the air, grin still plastered on her face and two short swords flashed in each of her hands, catching light from the moon.

Her knees tucked into her chest and the swords made a deliberate arc until the metal sliced through the man. But instead of the telltale squelching noise, she was met with a _plunk_. It was a wood clone.

Frustrated, she shipped her weapons to her sides and hacked the clone to bits, yelling madly into the night, finally noticing that her prey had disappeared, but she could still find them. She had to. And she too vanished in a twirl.

Yuriko may have failed to kidnap the Hyuuga brat, but Koh would not fail her mission. She would destroy tonight if she had anything to say about it.

And through the evening atmosphere, Naruto and his companions cut through the bushes, leaves cutting at their cheeks. Gaara's sand escaped the confines of its entrapment for time to time, searching for their pursuer. They made it into a clearing that consisted of a river with a red, traditional-looking bridge built over the top of it.

Cat put out an arm, indicating that he thought they should rest. They huffed in the background, trying to catch their breaths.

A crack, and then—

"You think you can escape from me, you stupid little twerps?!" And Koh came bounding into the clearing, casting a determined shadow over the group until she flashed above them, zipping into existence. Her feet crackled with lighting like they did before, bluish-white ribbons of the element began to zap the ground and her unsheathed swords reflected the light produced, blinding them, and she aimed at Naruto.

Her foot banged into the rocks beneath her, rocks that just so happened to be right where Naruto was standing not too long ago, and like a strike of lightning hit the earth during a particularly tremendous lightning storm, that spot sizzled then detonated mightily.

The boy fell back, breathing deeply. He clutched onto a single shuriken in his pouch and threw it at her nose. She grinned and simply electrified one of her swords, subsequently touching the thrown weapon, and hit it, effectively making the shuriken swivel around and travel to the blonde's head instead.

The problem was that this time the metal of the weapon he had released in defense had started to conduct the electricity and was now more deadly than ever.

_Tiger‒Rabbit‒Dog‒Ram‒Dragon!_ Temari deftly made the hand seals for one of the few wind jutsu she was lucky enough to have studied at this age. It was one of those times where she was grateful to be the Yondaime Kazekage's daughter.

"Wind Release: Wind Cutter Technique!" she bellowed and a great gust of wind erupted from her hands while she shielded the Hokage's son. "Hah! Wind cancels out lightning! You've got nothing!" And true to her word, the wind sliced the shuriken in half, the electricity it produced fizzling out, and the technique slammed Koh squarely in the chest. She would have bled out if not for the swords she used to clock the attack as she crossed them into an x-shape.

Koh landed on her rear yards away, dust lifting up in response, and instantly rounded bullets made of sand spewed forth towards her prone form and she rolled out of the way, but Kankuro brought his hands towards him and out of the tips of his fingers shot out strings of blue chakra that attached themselves to her body and arms.

"I don't think so, loser!" the brunette yelled and she lifted his arms, watching as his opponent's body rose into the sky and twitched as she fought for control.

A ripple of lightning surrounded her like armor and Kankuro was forced backwards as parts of it zapped the places where he was before, causing black hold to mar the grass. But wooden hands came out of seemingly nowhere; Cat controlled them flawlessly and she used them to grip their common adversary even as she started to fall from the air. The wood fingered wrapped around Koh tightly and she struggled to no end, so much so that the ANBU gritted his teeth and tightened the grip.

She gasped out in shock and then her body went limp, suddenly convulsing and that feral grin wiped off her face. Eerily, back was the shy girl, and now she was begging for help and crying, but none of them would fall for it.

Cat crossed his fingers together and the trap morphed into a tall tree-like cage. The girl banged her fists on the bars like her life depended on it. Which, if Naruto was being truthful to himself, it probably did, and he observed as her knuckled turned bloody from trying to break out.

"What was that about?" asked Kankuro who was dusting his clothes off. "Do you think it's over?"

The only real shinobi with the group narrowed his eyes suspiciously behind his porcelain mask. "Something tells me there's more."

True to his premonition, sounds came out from the forest grounds that were in front of them and soon after, out came tumbling a pile of children that consisted of Sasuke, two Hyuuga children which Naruto saw was Hinata and her older cousin, Neji, and Shikamaru Nara. From behind them walked out a very serious Mikoto Uchiha. Her dark eyes were livid.

Little Hinata looked absolutely terrified, her dark indigo hair was ruffled and her pupil-less white eyes were teary. Neji had his long dark hair tied at the bottom and he had similar eyes, but he had thin bandages wrapped around his forehead. He gripped his younger cousin's smaller hand protectively. Meanwhile, Sasuke inched toward his mother instinctively and Shikamaru looked utterly lost.

"Sasuke," Naruto panted out in disbelief, "Hinata, Neji, Mikoto-sama…" He blinked and stared intently at the last arrival before hastily adding, "Shikamaru?! I mean, I think I can get why the others are here, but why are you here? You don't have a bloodline!"

"Eh," the Nara acknowledged sheepishly, "I might have been pretty stupid and followed dad and kind of ran into these guys because I got separated. When I heard 'bloodline limits,' well…"

"But your dad's the guy with the strategies! 'Course he's gonna go and do something dangerous!" The Namikaze huffed. "So you just decided to _follow _him into this mess?! Are you crazy?!"

"I know it was troublesome, but I was worried about you guys, and since you seem to get yourselves into really troublesome situations…"

"You're an idiot, Shika!" the blond boomed to his friend.

Mikoto stomped over to Naruto and Shikamaru and whacked them soundly on the backs of their heads. "Stop arguing!" the woman screamed. "There are ten of us here and only two of us are fully trained shinobi! You _will listen_ to any order the both of us give you. Do you understand?! We don't have to time figure out why each of us is here! I was trusted with the safety of the Hyuuga and now the Nara and I was to bring them to the Tower along with Sasuke, which I'm guessing was the same direction you were heading until your little present appeared, correct?" To that she pointed to the trapped and still sobbing Yuriko.

Cat nodded in reply for the group.

The Uchiha woman scowled. "Anyway, I highly suggest we get out of here as quickly as possible and to the Tower because we may have been chased by a _present _as well." She glanced over at the ANBU and continued firmly, "A _two-tailed present_."

Swiftly, Cat ordered the children to make a run for it, knowing full well that his Mokuton ability would at least be able to hold back a tailed beast for a short while. Mikoto ushered them away and sent a clone after them; if it was a tailed beast she was asking this man to face, he would need all the help he could get. She hoped Kushina could alert her husband quickly because they were going to need his help and fast. The problem was somehow getting the Hokage to the immediate battlefield without the consent of the Council.

The children shoved through the bushes, wheezing and winded, Naruto in the lead.

In the background, the heaviest chakra any of them had felt hit them hard, laying down on them like a thick chainmail coat. Suddenly they couldn't breathe and the air was thick with tension.

Gaara tensed nearest to Naruto and his green eyes snapped to attention.

"No," the redhead said coolly, "I won't have my existence taken," and he flashed away in less than a second.

Temari shouted her brother's name, but they all knew it was futile. "NO! GAARA!" she cried. "This is bad! This is really bad!" She turned to her only remaining sibling who put on a determined face. "Kankuro!" They too almost disappeared, but Naruto halted their advance, touching the forearm of his fellow blonde.

A frustrated growl exited his throat. "Does your brother have a demon sealed inside him?" he questioned the sister doggedly.

"What?" Her hands lifted to her own weapons pouch on their own accord and she defensively clenched a fist. "That's impossible! How do you know that? What do you want with him?!"

"You heard me," and his gaze was intriguing to her. She had never seen someone so resolute. He pointed to the clearing they had just left. They could hear the roars of what could not be anything else other than a demon. "You heard them too. The Two Tails was after them, right?" At that, Sasuke nodded in worried confirmation. "I can definitely feel _that_. And now that your brother is unleashing some of his chakra, I can feel _that _too," he went on.

Temari glanced downward, closing her eyelids in resignation. "Okay, fine," she sneered. "What does this information do for us?"

The jinchuuriki blinked and took a deep breath. "It means that you guys need to get out of here," and Sasuke and Sikamaru quickly scanned their mutual friend in anticipation, "because I'm the only one here who stands a chance against that thing."

ooo

_Okay, _thought Temari as she watched from behind the bushes while watching Naruto creep back onto the battlefield. Behind her were the other Academy students. All of them pretended to accept that they would leave the Namikaze behind to take care of their situation, but in the end, not even the Hyuuga found it in their hearts to actually do it. _So much for following orders no matter what_, she said in her mind.

And they followed him up until the moment he began to interfere.

It was just as she feared. Gaara had already partially transformed into the Shukaku. She supposed that the oppressing chakra of a fellow jinchuuriki would be enough to trigger a transformation. That was probably exactly what happened. Gaara's sense of survival was enormous.

_Ka-boom! _A crater formed where a tree should have been.

So that wasn't the best first thing to feel when entering a fight for your life.

Wooden spikes shot out from the ground a magnificent spout of fire came from the mouth of the Uchiha woman, charring the sides of trees and plants and blackening the snow. Before the two sweating jounin was a gargantuan cat, taller than any house and as wide as one and a half training fields. It was made of sizzling blue fire, its eyes were a sickly bright yellow, and it had two lashing tails attached to its rear.

"How the hell are we supposed to fight the Two-Tailed Demon Cat?!" yelled Mikoto, who barely dodged a paw. Instead, the appendage destroyed the beautiful red bridge that was built across the river behind them.

"We have more than that to worry about," the Wood Style user gasped as he ducked an extending sand arm that reached towards one of the tails of the giant cat, "because apparently we have the One Tails here as well."

The fight had become more than just two puny shinobi against one large demon. Now with the Shukaku added into the mix, sand swirled ominously around then, lifting what they thought were nonexistent winds and fireballs flew from left and right. It was all they could do to keep away from the crossfire because this was now a battle between monsters.

A wooded shield rose from the earth and the ANBU was about to protect himself from a whip of blue fire, but it ended up burning the wood that was used to separate him from it. He bounced backwards on the soles of his feet. And rolled over when a tail crashed into the remains of the shield as well.

From the tall cage where Yuriko was held, they could hear screams of anguish, agony, and an odd tone of amusement.

"SHUT UP YOU INSUFFERABLE FAILURE," the demon cat wailed to the girl, "Here I am fixing _your _mistakes, and this is the thanks I get?! REMEMBER YOUR PLACE, HUMAN." And its left paw came down to sweep the smaller form of a partially formed one-tailed Gaara away.

The redhead flew past their heads and suddenly there was a flash of yellow, but it wasn't the Yellow Flash they were hoping would be there soon.

It was Naruto.

He caught Gaara and they skidded in the dirt on the impact. His pajamas were covered in dry mud and his shoulder blades were scratched to no tomorrow. The other boy squirmed in his grip, and then turned an angry demonic scowl on him.

"This is my fight! What are you doing here?" the influenced Gaara spat.

"Trying to save your butt," the blond replied calmly.

They shot up together, not noticing how the adults stared at the duo in both horror and awe. Together they ran towards the demon and bullets of sand bombarded the monster while Naruto attempted to throw handfuls of kunai at its big yellow eye in hopes of blinding it.

The animal hissed when a shuriken came close and it slammed its back foot into the ground, forming yet another gigantic crater in the scene of battle.

A rumbling sounded and abruptly the group was surrounded by squads of masked ANBU, including a fiery Kushina who punched a hole in a boulder nearby and caused cracks to litter the terrain. Caught in surprise, all the residents stumbled on their feet, but the cat was not done yet.

Its eyes focused on the pair of young jinchuuriki and breathed in deeply.

Kushina's violet eyes widened in dismay. "GET OUT OF HERE!" She belted frantically. "IT'S GOING TO MAKE A TAILED BEAST BOMB!"

Hearing this, the children that were hiding in the bushes while watching the battle unfold before them sprinted in the opposite direction of where the beast was aiming, but Shikamaru noticed that Naruto and Gaara would not have enough time to get out of the way. It was in the moment that he made a decision and his hands formed into the unique hand sign of the Nara Clan. He would not let his friends die.

"Shadow Possession Technique!" the Nara called and arms of black shows snaked stealthily on the landscape, illuminated by the moon's light. The tendrils grasped a hold of Naruto, who was already gripping onto Gaara, and on Shikamaru's command, they yanked the pair out of the clearing and away from the line of fire.

Unfortunately for the Nara, now he was the one who was in danger.

There was a terrifying outburst and trees uprooted as a massive and corrosive ball of purely dense chakra detonated. Waves of air spread out in circles and the bystanders had to cover their eyes and ears. The sound was too much and the dust made tickled their tear ducts unpleasantly.

When all was silent and relatively still, all that was left of the cat demon was the fallen and exhausted form of Yugito Nii. Her jounin vest was badly torn and her blonde hair was dirty and splayed. But in the portion of the field where the bomb had come to fruition, everything that used to be there was left as ashes, disintegrated, and there was no sign of Shikamaru Nara.

"SHIKAMARU!" Naruto heard Sasuke yell.

The Hokage's son was crouched, curled up next to Gaara whose sand had calmed and returned to the container. But Naruto saw it all. He knew from the start that when he felt himself lose total control of his body, that one of his closest friends had sacrificed himself for him. And suddenly his head was throbbing in pain.

All he saw was coated in the angry color of red. He breathed, trying to control his emotions, trying to control the tears that prickled at the back of his eyeballs. His fingers trembled and his palms began to sweat. His eyes faced downward and all he could see was blood and furiousness and nothing else. He wanted to kill the thing that had caused this pain to explode in his gut.

"_That's right," _the deep voice in his mind snarled, _"Remember your power. Remember _our _power_._"_

Naruto's head lifted and his pupils had turned to slits, his irises a dark crimson. The whiskers on his cheeks thickened and his face morphed into something feral. The canines of his teeth extended and grew out past his lips and then he was growling, an orange and bubbling cloak of pure chakra covered his body and fox ears shaped along with the immediate formation of two tails.

"You killed him!" the eight-year-old roared.

The boy bounded over to the downed form of Yugito and snatched the front of her shirt with his hand that now had fingernails that resembled claws. He scratched her face and she bled, screaming in agony as she attempted to scramble away. The woman no longer had the strength to call on her tailed beast.

More chakra bubbled outward and a third tail formed on Naruto's cloak. The fox had awakened.

In the background, Gaara's eyes were wide. "He's…he's like me…"

"Yes," a voice agreed behind the jinchuuriki and he swiveled around to see the form of the Yondaime Hokage. His eyes were intense and were no longer the twinkling light blue he witnessed when he first met him. Now they were dark and forbidding. "Naruto is like you, but unfortunately, he holds the Kyuubi."

The man flashed away and Gaara could see behind him the unconscious body of Shikamaru who was luckily breathing, and behind that the hand of a three pronged kunai that was embedded into the trunk of a tree.

And Minato confronted the rampaging form of his son, a determined look in his eye. He had faced the actual, full demon that was the Kyuubi. He could not be afraid of this. He could not be afraid of his own flesh and blood.

"Naruto," he commanded while staring at his son who was now on all fours. "You need to calm down. Control your power. _Control it_."

The boy lashed out to his own father and he was blocked by two kunai that zoomed in the moonlight.

"Control it!"

Naruto growled and swiped a claw to the Hokage, who easily dodged it and still appeared completely composed despite having to fight his own family. He ducked when both claws came together in an attempt to clasp him and trap him. The bystanders watched on in intense anticipation. Kushina was itching to go out there herself and fix everything.

"NARUTO!" Minato bellowed loudly. The others in the clearing were shocked to hear it, especially the ANBU. They had never heard their leader shout, let alone so…_desperately_. "Remember who you are! Remember what I told you!" And here he flashed away in his trademark move, appearing on top of the seal he had placed on the grass behind his son's feet. "You are _not _a demon! Remember!

"I told you! You have to learn to _forgive_!" He jumped backwards, narrowly missing another blow and added, "And Shikamaru is fine! I was able to get him out before anything happened!"

His son was really acting like a monster now, and that terrified Minato to no end. He didn't want this for Naruto. He didn't want his only child to have to succumb to this kind of torture, to have to be forced to use a power that he did not yet have full control over. But the worst part of it all was that he knew that it was all _his fault_. He had made that decision eight years ago. He had made that decision, and now his son had to pay for something he did not willingly do.

"You promised me that you would always get past hatred! You promised me, Naruto!"

The wind blew past them, the snow whirling, and the fighting and dodging halted.

"_I promise to always get past my hatred."_ Naruto remembered he had said something like that and the anger was pushed away to the furthest recesses of his psyche. The fox flowed away and was no more. He no longer felt the need to kill and maim and murder so needlessly anymore, even as Yugito moaned near his person.

The child's body stopped instantly at his father's words and he stiffened. The heavy chakra of the demon fox boiled away and vanished, his eyes rolled to the back of his head and he collapsed to his knees, gasping out unintentionally, and his fingernails retracted back to their normal size. Minato was there to catch him before he fell face first into the dirt and light blanket of snow.

"Good," the father whispered softly, and no one else could hear even if they tried, "I knew you would remember."

Afterwards, the multitudes of ANBU agents once again took up the entire clearing, which was now utterly destroyed. The red bridge was gone and pieces of it could be seen floating down the half frozen river. The frosted grass was more black than green, and there was a significantly less amount of trees in the forests than there were mere hours ago. The children were brutally scolded for not following through on orders and Temari was profusely apologizing for the trouble her youngest brother had caused. Gaara was oddly quiet and even though he already had a reserved personality, and he kept staring at the knocked out Naruto while also looking at his hands like they were somehow different than he remembered them being.

Kushina was fussing over her husband and son, the latter of which probably would not wake up for a good day or so, they suspected.

The Kumo shinobi were all detained. Yuriko had changed to Koh and was shouting obscenities to her captors, while Yugito was resigned and subdued. Inside, the woman was berating herself for losing to a brat that was way younger than her. And Tahn, which they found out was the name of the Head Ninja from the Cloud, was sent in for questioning in the Torture and Interrogation Department with extra torture.

Inoichi had described the man's questioning to the Hokage and said how Anko sauntered up to Kumo's Head Ninja, her walk confident with stride, how she leaned in front of him—whether intentionally or unintentionally showing off her assets, they didn't know—and spoke in a low, threatening yet somehow inviting voice.

He then said how she lifted her index finger and poked the tied up man under the chin, his eyes widening with horror and started to speak. "Now," Inoichi said she purred with a knowing smirk, "You're going to tell me exactly what your little plan was from the start or else I will gladly introduce you to a close _friend of mine_."

What the "friend of hers" was, none of them were sure, but they suspected that it was either one of her pet snakes or the knife trick she was known for doing, especially when she wanted information. That said, the knife was usually found bloodied and the victim would have disturbing doodles of explicit symbols carved into their bodies when she was done with them.

They collected their information quickly because of her help.

Kumo had never actually planned on agreeing to an alliance in the first place. The Raikage, A, only wanted an easy route into the village without looking totally suspicious. He also wanted to improve his arsenal of shinobi—quite the predictable move—and he wanted to do that by taking advantage of either the Uzumaki chakra coils, the Uchiha bloodline, or the Hyuuga bloodline. The grand prize, of course, would hopefully be the Byakugan as that was the doujutsu the conniving man had been eyeing for years.

Now with all the paperwork mostly completed and the Sand ninja travelling back to their home village, Minato was feeling incredibly guilty and he voiced his opinion to his only remaining student who stood before him in his office, silver hair swept the side.

"After all of this," the Fourth sighed as he fingered the bristles of one of his inking brushes, "I really do feel like I can't be a father to Naruto. I've felt this way before, multiple times, but now…"

"You can't doubt yourself suddenly, sensei," Kakashi offered in his typical nonchalant tone.

"But he saw Gaara and how he turned out, and not to mention that the Kyuubi—"

The former ANBU rubbed the back of his head embarrassedly and explained, "Any man can be a father," and he smiled behind his mask while thinking of his own father, "but it takes someone special to be a dad."

Minato parted his lips, not knowing what to say to that.

"Naruto looks up to you," the Hatake continued. "If he didn't, would he have listened to you when you tried to stop him from going on as the Kyuubi?"

A knock echoed on the door, interrupting their conversation. The leader allowed whoever it was inside his workplace, and in came the new ANBU captain that replaced Kakashi, Itachi Uchiha.

"If I may, Hokage-sama…" the teen trailed off, awaiting a reply to which he received an affirmative. "All your orders have been taken care of and the enemy shinobi thoroughly imprisoned. We just have to wait for the notification to the Raikage."

"Right," the blond agreed. "I have already taken care of it."

The Uchiha frowned after a pause. "We also have the problem of Mizuki," he informed his commander-in-chief. "Kakashi-senpai—" he gestured toward the other ninja in the room "—and I were able to capture him before he succeeded in stealing the Scroll of Sealing, but the fact that he broke out of prison to do so is worrying. It could mean that someone is helping him."

Minato narrowed his eyes. "Yes, we've been suspecting treasonous actions beneath Konoha for a couple of years, but were never able to find adequate evidence until now. However, we still don't know who it could be for sure and it would be too dangerous to make a move now, especially with the position we've put Kumo in."

The teenager crinkled his eyebrows together in thought. "But Hokage-sama," he wondered, "don't you think it's too large of a coincidence that all of this occurred during the Kumo incident?"

"I think you're thinking exactly in line," the fair-haried man decided. "But I suspect that whoever planned to use Mizuki now simply used that as a cover. There's no way the Cloud could know about the Scroll; it's an S-class village secret that is heavily guarded and only a handful know of it. If you recall, Mizuki was one of its previous guards…

"I won't deny that this is getting dangerous, though. We need to keep alert. The fact that that traitor wanted the Scroll is troubling, seeing as there are many forbidden techniques contained in it such as the true completed form of the Niidaime's Impure World Resurrection Technique. We can't let something like this get into the wrong hands."

Itachi nodded once in confirmation.

"Itachi," the Hokage commanded and the adolescent was attentive, "From now on you and your squad will be put in charge of protecting that Scroll and all of its contents. I want new security measures put in place. You are also to inform the prison that they are to soundly improve their security detail by the end of this week and an inspection will take place once every month."

"Yes, Hokage-sama."

"Dismissed," he said to the both of them and both ninja vanished in puffs of smoke.

Minato took a deep breath. So far, there were so many threats to the Leaf, and the problems with the fox were not helping either. The father tried to not let the guilt eat away at him. Kakashi was right. Naruto didn't hate him; he couldn't. Otherwise he would not have taken his lesson so seriously.

He decided that he would go home early that day. Then he could see if his son had finally awoken. It had been a full day since those happenings and he would be kidding himself if he said that he was not worried.

And his thoughts returned to one month previously and how Naruto was scared because the Kyuubi had contacted him for the first time. Was that some sort of sign? It might have been. After all, his son did say something about "more coming." Maybe that should have been Minato's warning. Maybe he should have been more attentive. Maybe he should have _listened_.

There were too many maybes and too many questions that needed to be answered. But even in that moment, the Fourth Hokage was completely human and nowhere near the legendary Yellow Flash he was called so often, because even as much as he wanted to push away the guilt, he still hated himself.

And locked away in his own son's mind was this giant chakra construct of a demon that could speak with him, that could possibly _control _his actions if provoked. He wondered if the fox was trying to contact Naruto right now, or whether it would be anything significant if it did.

But he was not aware that he was right…

"_There are certain things that a great tailed demon such as myself could never forget," the Kyuubi said with echoing power in his prison hold in the blond child's mind. "The Ichibi and Niibi may have forgotten it all, but I am attached to __you__. I know everything. I know all. I have seen what has been and what could have been…_

"_And __you__, my entertaining little jinchuuriki, will probably never remember until it's too late," the devastatingly enormous beast finished forebodingly. _

And he faded out into the darkness, leaving Naruto to wake up with a start after yet another terrifying and confusing nightmare. But even after all the times he had forgotten his dreams, even after all the times he had awoken and it felt like something important was pounding in the back of his awareness like a memory that was trying to outflow from his clutches but could not, this dream sequence felt all the more different because this time he _did_ remember everything.

This time, Naruto did not forget and he wondered what exactly the demon wanted him to remember.

**AN: If any of you are wondering, yes, the name "Koh" is a tribute to the spirit in Avatar: The Last Airbender that can steal faces and shift faces. Obviously, this name is relevant here. **

**Coming up next…**

**Chapter Six: Blue Moon Rising**

_**Naruto graduates from the Academy and starts to take on missions. Meanwhile, the shadows beneath the Leaf Village are finally starting to move.**_

**Answers to questions that you might have been wanting to ask:**

(1) _Fish collar _or _hamachi kama_ is a common delicacy in Japan and in other Asian countries. It can come from many kinds of fish, the most popular including yellowtails and salmon. It is literally the collarbone of the fish covered in meat. (Quite tasty in my opinion.) If you are curious and live outside of a country that would serve this, the best way to get it is to specifically ask for it in a Japanese restaurant because it most likely won't be on the menu. They might be a little surprised if you ask as usually only natives know of it, but it's worth a shot! They usually save the collar anyway.

(2) _Storey _is the British English spelling for the American _story._ No it does not mean story as in a book story. It means the storey, or level of a building. While I use American English, there are a small handful of words that I prefer the British English spelling for. Like gray versus grey, color versus colour, and whatnot. They still mean the same thing.

(3) _Murphy's Law _is a famous adage that is usually stated as, "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong." In more straight terms that would be equivalent to "shit goes wrong."

(4) Asking "Who am I talking with today?" is a common question physiatrists ask patients that are suffering from Dissociative Personality Disorder (DID), or as was known until recently, Multiple Personality Disorder. For those that do not know, DID is a mental disorder that entails that the patient experiences two or more completely separate personalities. They are typically so separate from each other that the person is often not aware of the other personalities when he or she is acting as one personality versus another, but sometimes they are aware of each other. They are also so different that their likes and dislikes are not the same, and even a strange phenomenon like completely different blood pressures or heartbeat patterns occur that no one can explain. Even the voices vary.  
>So I am sure you can adequately deduce that Yuriko has that mental disorder.<p> 


	6. Interlude Chapter

**AN: This is a short pause between chapters and is a short oneshot focusing on Minato. (Also because I have many Minato feelings of the recent events in the manga.) The other reasons include that university is killing me slowly and because chapter 5 is the last chapter before Naruto is 12. From chapter 6 onwards, we will see him as a fully-fledged ninja. You could say that this is about the halfway point in **_**Upside-Down Hourglass **_**as well.**

**REGARDING CHAPTER 5 QUESTIONS**** — First I'd like to say that I got a lot of questions concerning Yuriko vs. Koh vs. Yugito. NONE of those are the same person. Yuriko is a completely separate character who, if you paid attention a bit and if you have read my AN at the bottom of last chapter, you would realize had Dissociative Personality Disorder. Yuriko calls herself "Koh" when her personality suddenly changes. Yugito was the name that I did use for the Niibi (Matatabi) jinchuuriki. I'm sorry if that caused a bit of confusion as I realize that Yugito and Yuriko have similar spelling.**

**Also, as for Kumo, I am totally aware that their plan was stupid. That was kind of the point. A reviewer pointed out that Minato is still at his prime and Konoha is still strong at this point in the story and yes, that is true. The Raikage, A, is reckless, as we all know. But, even as stupid as he was in his plan, he was also trying to be cautious. Yugito, one of Kumo's jinchuuriki, was sent out for that specific reason. He hoped that he could possibly overpower Minato and Konoha using his trump card. Again, I am sorry I did not make that clear enough.**

**Lastly, yes. Kurama knows and remembers. **

**Chapter 5.5—Interlude:  
>Walking Legends; Walking Dreams<br>**_We walk the paths we want to pave…_

"_Every legend begins as an ambition and every ambition begins as a dream. The choice to make that story come to fruition is the choice that defines you because you are your choices and your choices are your dreams."_

* * *

><p><em>A few months before the end of the Third Shinobi World War…<em>

"Did you hear? They say the Sandaime is narrowing down his candidate choices for the Yondaime Hokage position…"

"Well he has been the Hokage since the end of the First War. It must be tiring…"

There were whispers of gossip all over the Village Hidden in the Leaves. People turned to one another, trying hard to be covert with each other, and murmured their supposed secrets into one another's awaiting ears. Hoards of civilians wallowed fantastically in the possible gossip, positive excitement rising in the crowds after so long…

It had been years since the beginning of the war and everyone was simply _tired_. But ever since the destruction of the Kanabi Bridge and the war finally turning in Konoha's favor two months previously, many felt that a new age would be dawning upon the horizon: a new age of peace and prosperity, a new age of no conflict. This was an idea that they could only hope for and had been hoping for, a hope that seemed to drift farther and farther away as the years waned on. But you cannot kill an idea and you cannot truly crush hope.

Searching for a hero, the people had seen light shine through the darkness in a single man. He was called by many names and renowned all over the elemental nations for his prowess and incredible strength, even at such a young age. He was virtually undefeatable and had never been defeated. His enemies did not bother to place a bounty on this man's head because they were too wary to approach him; instead they stuck a "flee-on-sight" order associated with blond hair and blue eyes and an incredibly disorienting calm demeanor in their bingo books.

He seemed so untouchable. He was their savior. He was Konoha's Yellow Flash.

Some called him a walking legend, a beacon of radiance, and a true figure of the people. They weaved stories and tremendous tales about this shinobi, spreading them throughout the death-ridden battlefields like a farmer would handfuls of seeds. Eventually the seeds cracked open and out sprouted the roots. Plants grew and suddenly this man transformed from simply a powerful human being to someone who was more than human, akin to an immortal.

However, they were not aware that Konoha's Yellow Flash was probably a lot less godlike than they believed him to be because at that very moment, their hero was trying to figure out a way to come up with an idea to propose to who he hoped to be his future wife.

Well, it wasn't exactly a _proposal _so to speak. Men did not outright say they would like to marry someone, at least not in their culture. It was more subtle than that, an implication. (1) But Minato was not a normal man. First of all, he was incredibly nervous and second of all, he wanted to imply marriage creatively…if that made any sense. The notion did in his head.

And so he found himself dejectedly staring into space, an elbow propped onto a low wooden table, and his body slouched with legs crossed. The reflection of a brown-haired man glanced off Minato's hitai-ate, his eyebrow quirked in confusion and curiosity.

"What the heck is wrong with you today, Minato?" The fellow shinobi inquired. He pouted and then sighed in exasperation when he did not receive an immediate answer. He thought that maybe this guy was annoying after all.

You see, Ryu Goto was an inquisitive man, if not a bit eccentric in his methods of finding answers, but nevertheless he was what people would call a reliable person. He was a Konoha jounin, donning a hunter green flak jacket with a forehead protector dangling about his neck and all, decently adept with earth style techniques, a good reader, and he had a secret aspiration to write books one day—when he had more time, that is.

He had wavy brown-blond hair and eyes that sometimes appeared as if they were more than one color, occasionally shifting from green to brown to blue depending on the angle of the sunlight. He had a girlfriend that Minato also knew fairly well because she was a former teammate of his. Well actually, Ryu and she were _both_ former teammates and part of the original genin cell taught by Jiraya of the Sannin. Of course, it was the blond man sitting across from Ryu that really became the favored apprentice, but who could blame him? Minato was talented and really was the most well suited out of the three of them to continue his tutelage under Jiraya in later years.

That didn't mean that the three members of Team Jiraya ever lost touch completely.

The brunette groaned outwardly. "You're ignoring me! Really, are you just going to sit there and not say anything even after we decided we'd meet up today for lunch? Geez some friend you are—"

"Ah, excuse me sirs, are you ready to order?" A plump waitress with cascading indigo hair and a floral kimono interrupted the rant, an empty round tray clasped gently to her chest as she bowed. She was blushing furiously and the man grudgingly noted that she was yet another Kiiori Senko fan-girl, not that the Namikaze ever noticed because he was always trapped in his own little genius world. Really, sometimes he thought that his teammate earned that nickname not because of his incredible speed but because he was flashing the kunoichi or something.

Ryu dragged a callused hand down his face and replied in a muffled voice, "The yakisoba (2) would be nice, no vegetables though, just the beef is fine." He observed as the woman nodded her head in confirmation and he quirked an eyebrow at his former teammate, silently asking what he wanted to eat.

As if sensing his companion's inquiry, Minato perked up and politely ordered pork tonkatsu (3).

Incensed, the doton user threw his arms in the air and complained, "Oh, so _now _you talk!" He was promptly ignored and it became the waiting game for both an answer to his questions and their food alike while he glared intently at his blue-eyed comrade's profile.

A pause passed and it was silent at the duo's table save for the clinking noises of plates and chatter in the background of the restaurant. Then, as if out of nowhere, Minato's head tilted sideways as if finally acknowledging his friend's existence.

"Hm, did you say something?" The blond asked. Immediately he heard a head bang loudly upon the tabletop and he blinked in surprise. "What was that for?"

Ryu's left eyelid was twitching rapidly. "And they call this guy a prodigy or some shit like that," he mumbled to himself. There were times similar to this when he thought that there was absolutely no way that this idiot could have ever passed the Academy stage of their shinobi careers. Konoha's savior or not, he knew all too well that Minato had his off days; everyone just needed to see them and perhaps they would laugh and realize that their hero was pretty insane.

Maybe it was his inner frustration speaking, but he never really got to the point of following the guy on all fours with the thought of hero worship on his mind. He had seen so many odd sides to Minato that he simply couldn't. He had known the man years too long, and that was possibly the reason why he was so worried about him. Needless to say, he never knew his former training partner to space out for no reason.

"You're acting weird," the jounin added, "and by that I mean weirder than normal. What are you thinking about, squirt?" At the old nickname, the Namikaze pursed his lips in disapproval and Ryu only smirked widely. It was a little known fact on the team that the Yellow Flash was the shortest kid in their group for the longest time, and not only that, but he had hit puberty at an admittedly later stage than most and for a while he had a pretty damn small—

Apparently fifteen minutes had already passed since they made their orders and the waitress from earlier butted into their conversation again, this time making it a point to flash a little flesh. Ryu most certainly did not approve and his annoyance at his friend's obliviousness only grew by the second.

She plopped the main courses in front of both gentleman that ordered, carefully slipping two porcelain bowls of steaming white rice beside them, and without further ado, they picked up their chopsticks from their respective holders in the sweet anticipation of a delicious meal. The lady left quite flushed after Minato had thanked her for her service, and it was only then that Ryu noticed one important thing missing.

"Oh hell," the brunette moaned. "When I said 'just the beef,' I didn't think they'd take it _that_ seriously. I ordered a yakisoba, so where's the noodles? They gave me a plate of just the meat!" And lo and behold, that was exactly what was placed in front of him, much to his friend's amusement.

He called for the same waitress again and she apologized profusely, stuttering that she would fix it for him right away. What he received in return was a plateful of fried noodles and that was it. Not bothering to complain further, he accepted his fate.

"Damn it. I asked for a yakisoba with just beef and then they tell me that they'll fix it only to give me a damn thing of separate noodles so that I can fix it myself," Ryu ground out, angrily pilling beef onto the new dish. "That's like asking for a chicken sandwich with just the chicken, _only_ getting the chicken, and then someone gives you _just the bread buns _in consolation." Ripping into a slice of beef with his teeth, he continued, "It's like ever since people started talking about you getting the Hokage position, I'm totally ignored if I'm around you…those pricks."

Minato chuckled at his cohort's antics while he plucked at the breaded pork pieces resting atop his hot bowl of rice. He tentatively took a bite and smiled when the taste satisfied him. The consistency of the food was crunchy on the outside and tender on the inside, a perfect blend if he had to say so himself. (Never as wonderfully appetizing as Kushina's cooking, though. That was for sure.)

And now that the thought of his long-time girlfriend came to mind…

"Ryu," the Hokage candidate frowned. "I was thinking…"

"…everyone knows _that's _downright dangerous—"

Ignoring the rebuttal, the blond went on softly, "…I was thinking about marrying soon. You know, maybe asking her to marry me," he rotated his chopsticks in the center of the grains of rice, "but she probably won't agree to it…"

_Oh dear_. If the fellow ninja didn't already think that his teammate was an idiot, he definitely thought so now. Everyone who was anyone—that is, anyone close to the couple—knew that they were practically inseparable. Minato and Kushina balanced each other out, if not a little oddly when put into practice. They had been together since their generation was still in their early teenage years and throughout the Third Shinobi War at its peak.

Minato was calm, collected, unobtrusive, shrewd, and the obvious talent in their class. Kushina Uzumaki, on the other hand, was loud, obnoxious, positively violent, somewhat dense, and was the one with a lack of talent in ninjutsu. They were the complete opposite of each other, but they fixed each other's mistakes and made the other undoubtedly whole. While Minato was the idealist and sometimes let his idealism make him naïve, Kushina was the realist that made him see that not everything was rainbows and butterflies. He was the only one that could subdue her and she was the only one that showed him that he didn't have to be perfect for everyone all the time.

They were a matched set, the relationship of the century, so perfect for each other that if any fan-girl saw them they would have jealousy scorching in their eyes. So this was exactly the reason Ryu was so angry at him.

"C'mon, Minato," the jounin grumbled excessively, slurping up a mouthful of yakisoba, "Are you stupid or something? Is this what was on your mind the whole damn time?"

The blond agreed with a slight twitch of his chin silently, awaiting a less aggressive reply.

Ryu was not one to disappoint. "Do you really think she wouldn't agree to marry you?" he questioned with surprise, "You have the hat practically in your hands and I'll probably be calling you _Hokage-sama _in a month or so. The war is almost over; everyone knows it, not to mention that it's all because of you! If there's any time to get married and have a few mini-squirts running around the village, it definitely is now."

"But—"

"Oh for fuck's sake," the brown-haired man growled, "Are you serious right now? She'll say yes! Just take my word for it! Have I ever been wrong about things like this before?"

The Namikaze pondered on the query briefly before coming up with a quick answer. "There was that time you told me that I should play it nonchalant when attempting to ignore fan-girls, but they only got more interested in me and Kushina ended up chasing them off with her fists…"

Spluttering, Ryu huffed, "Forget it! Look, squirt," and Minato sighed when he noticed the unwanted use of his childhood moniker, "A lot of people are thinking of tying the knot, especially at our age. We're young, probably at or close to our prime in this business, and with all this talk of peace people are bound to think of the future.

"Heck, even a guy like me is thinking about settling down with Kotoko once this thing with Iwa and Kumo is over. And you? You should really think about it for sure. A Hokage without a family is like a fish without water. People will be expecting heirs from you and crap like that," he responded with a wave of his hand, unaware of the reddish shade that appeared on Minato's cheekbones, "Clans always say that they want ninja in the village with potential to be powerful, and we all know you are with all the fuss you're making out there on the battlefield." He grinned while he leaned forward on his arms, "Heh, maybe I should write a story about how the Yellow Flash is more afraid of a woman saying no than of the Tsuchikage…"

Minato frowned, but decided it was best not to comment on that. It wasn't a total lie after all, even if he did not want to admit it to himself.

"Look, man," Ryu explained, "Just go for it. I know I'm right on this one."

"Alright, I guess," the Yellow Flash acknowledged uncertainly.

They continued eating in silence, each thinking deeply about what the other had said, when a sudden puff of smoke and swirling leaves intruded their vision. An ANBU Black Ops agent popped into existence not two feet away from their table, his mask porcelain off-white with three violet stripes on each cheek, signifying that he represented some sort of tiger or feline.

The shinobi bowed, black cloak flickering around him and said, "Jounin Minato Namikaze, the Sandaime Hokage has summoned you to his office. He requests that you come as soon as possible and that I shall be your escort."

The two friends turned to each other with barely hidden wonder and the blond shrugged and pulled out a few ryo from his pockets in order to pay off his tab. Ryu said his goodbyes and crunched on his beef alone, watching his old teammate wander off with the ANBU in curiosity.

And so Minato trailed behind the ninja that was his guide. His sandals picked up the loose dirt on the increasingly busier and busier streets of Konoha. He observed that now that the war was coming to a close, many were coming back home from the battlefront and shops that were formerly closed for an indefinite period of time were reopening with grand vigor. The Leaf would be rebuilt and the sight made him smile.

Minutes later, the duo arrived at the double door entrance to the circular office of Hokage Tower. A soft and firm knock by the agent signified that they were entering as requested, and the aging, withering form of Sarutobi Hiruzen, Third Hokage, appeared to be sitting quite contentedly behind his mahogany desk, a lit pipe propped in between his teeth.

The doors closed shut behind them and the older man signaled for the ANBU to exit the premises. The two were now alone and of course Minato was utterly nervous. He had never been summoned so suddenly by the Hokage, and definitely never so completely unaccompanied. Unbeknownst to him, the young man had unknowingly voiced his thoughts aloud, to which the leader of the village beamed which only served to confuse him further.

A stretch of an awkward silence fell upon them and then—

"Minato Namikaze," boomed the revered and dubbed "Professor," and the Sandaime himself. "I have chosen you as my successor."

There was another long pause and stillness rang for at least a minute.

Minato blinked a few times as if trying to distinguish a faraway object that was obscured with bright sunlight. "...Excuse me, Hokage-sama?" he breathed out in disbelief.

Sarutobi smirked when he witnessed the shocked reaction on the younger man's face. It was not every day that you saw the Yellow Flash act in such a manner. "I said that I have chosen you as my successor. The Council and the feudal lord have recently approved. Today in fact."

"Huh?" The man had never been so speechless in his life, not that Hiruzen could blame him.

"As of today you will be known as Konoha's Yondaime Hokage," confirmed the elder ninja. He continued talking as if there were no previous interruptions, "Of course I will have to properly train you to take the position for the next few months, but by then I think it's safe to say that the war will be over and you will begin your rule on a Konoha that will only know peace…and I will finally be able to retire." He quirked an amused eyebrow at the still shocked Minato, "That is…if you accept my proposition?"

In the world of shinobi, it was a difficult thing to keep a dream especially when there was constant fighting and rage. Your life expectancy was generally shorter than a normal civilian's. You could die at any minute by kunai, by revenge, by an explosion, or by thoughtless or reckless action. It was almost seen as an inevitable fate, a foreseeable future.

A shinobi could work hard and train hard in hopes of becoming as strong as he can. Some had incredible potential that would never see the light of day because they had died too early to show off what they could do. It was a game of cat and mouse, a throw of dice. You never knew what you were going to get when you entered into the career. This was why shinobi could not keep dreams, not all of them anyway, because there was such a huge chance that the dream would not be achieved, that they would be crushed before they began.

Nevertheless, Minato kept one. He had dreamed ever since his Academy days that he would someday become the leader of his beloved village, that he would one day become the strongest out of them all, the best of his generation so that he could have the power and the drive to protect what he loved most; to protect and watch over Konoha. But some part of him chalked it up to foolishness.

He never thought that this dream would finally come true.

"Minato?" the Sandaime inquired gently.

Snapping himself out of his reverie, the Namikaze gasped out. "Uh…yes, Hokage-sama?"

"Do you accept the position of Yondaime Hokage?"

There was a short gap of disbelief. This could not be happening, at least not to him. He answered with a hesitant, "Y—yes, I accept the position, Hokage-sama."

"You don't sound entirely sure of yourself," Sarutobi teased.

The jounin tensed and straightened his back, only vaguely accepting that this was not some sort of genjutsu or twisted form of reality, and that is head was being nice and not playing tricks on him. "Yes, I accept the position you have offered to me, Hokage-sama," he remarked again with what he wished was radiating confidence.

The aging man peered at his successor with scrutinizing look in his chocolate brown irises. He knew deep in his heart that yes, this man was right for the job and yes, this man was ready even though he did not seem so at the moment. He knew that he would not regret such a momentous decision. The Will of Fire would be passed onto the next generation.

However, Sarutobi kept his thoughts on his previously potential successor to himself for that time. He knew that many in the village knew of his choice between Minato and his now wayward student, Orochimaru. One of the Sanin and a teammate to Jiraya and Tsunade, he would have been a perfect candidate…if he never started performing disastrous and completely inhumane experiments on fellow shinobi. The Third had discovered a lab of his recently, and that only solidified the fact that he would not choose the Snake to take over his position.

He had been having his doubts for a handful of years already. Orochimaru was not pure enough for the seat of Hokage. He wanted that power for the wrong reasons; he wanted to use the Leaf and its resources to further his own goals while Minato did not. Minato was powerful and could easily be ranked as a kage, no doubt, and his reign as a young, promising Hokage was eagerly awaited by many.

Sarutobi would inform the fair-haired man of his thoughts later on, but not today. Today was to be an life-changing and exultant one.

"Good," laughed the old man, "I was hoping you would answer positively."

The now Hokage-to-be clasped his hands repeatedly on his sides in an uncharacteristic gesture of nerviness. "Ah, Hokage-sama…"

"We're equals now, Yondaime. Call me Hiruzen."

"…H—Hiruzen-sama, are you sure about this? Aren't I a bit…young?"

The currently reigning Hokage shook his shoulders in mirth at the response, the afternoon sunlight only exemplifying his joyful and wrinkling features through the glass of the window behind his back. "That you are, of course, but so was I." He tilted his head and observed the young man again who looked decidedly uncomfortable at all the attention. "Trust me. We need a man like you to take the mantle, someone who is strong and with novel ideas to bring to the table." He exhaled resignedly and added, "And I have been the caretaker of this village through two wars already, not counting the ending of the First Shinobi War. I'm tired, Minato, and quite frankly I'm getting old. We need you; a person who has managed to establish himself across the elemental nations, who is the deciding factor in achieving the serene era Konoha has been waiting for, not an old man who knows too much of war and too little of peace."

The Namikaze blinked, unable to respond with anything adequate.

"You will make a fine leader," and to this the Third grinned so brightly that the ANBU that secretly guarded the room from the shadows of the air vents would have sworn up and down that there probably was a miniature sun blinding them at that very instant, "_Hokage-sama_."

Hiruzen did not want to admit that he was having too much fun mischievously teasing the poor man who was now stiffening with wide-eyed astonishment at the new title. He was opening and closing his mouth like a desperate fish out of water, and the older adult supposed he was akin to that. Minato was out of his normal element after all.

Looking to the future, the Third Hokage swiftly directed the younger out the door and into the hallway, all smiles and laughter while Minato only exuded confusion and disbelief. The older man signaled to the stairwell that led out of the Tower, saying that he should take the rest of the day off to think through the new experience and to recuperate. A formal announcement about his ascension to the seat would be made to the villagers the following day. ("You are going to need your space for a while. Many will come flocking to you once I tell them.")

Without further interruptions, Minato made his way out of the building in a daze. His walk was slightly staggered like a drunkard and he strolled with less buoyancy in his step. His blue eyes gathered in his surroundings like they were something brand new, seeing the children of the Academy class throwing a rubber red ball at each other on the playground, the exhausted-looking ninja that were on their way to reporting in after months of travel and fighting.

He turned his gaze towards the Hokage Monument while he shoved his hands in his pockets. His normal jounin uniform never looked so impressive at that moment because he appeared, for all intents and purposes, that his face belonged carved there too. With the breeze impressively swaying his blond locks and ruffling the dark blue fabric of his sleeves, a brilliant ray of light edged his figure as if he were a silhouette, a shadow. An emerald green oak leaf swiped away on a current nearby and he moved with all defining grace, following the leaf in the wind.

Three faces of three Hokage, and very soon there would be a fourth.

He hoped that he could live up to such a tremendous legacy.

And there was a sudden burst of confidence as he continued to walk, step-by-step on the streets of the home he loved. First it started out slow, like a predator on the prowl. His feet landed with purpose, his sights set determinedly forward. Then the speed picked up and transformed into a brisk walk, excitement building in his throat as a breathless bubble of air. It became a run and there was something burning and churning in his stomach that he did not quite know to put a name to. His tanned face split into a grin, his voice breaking into a musical laugh.

Minato had no clue where he was headed to and people were staring. There were strange diamonds in his eyes, watering in happiness as he breathed out. He was sprinting now, he arms and elbows flaying beside him that it looked like he was in multiple places at once. Bystanders thought, if just for a moment, that they saw the infamous Hiraishin in action.

It was like a dream and suddenly he was attempting to catch his breath in front of a green wooden door with a poster of a spiral on it. His fingers twitched around the rounded golden handle, but he rapped on the panels of the entrance instead.

A _creak _resounded and there was an attractive woman standing before him with hair that glowed in contrast to the sunshine, red hair like velvet ribbons, red like roses, red that was beautiful and comforting and tenacious, red that flowed near the floor like a river, red that was life and that was fire.

The man inched forward on his own, his motions unthinking.

He picked her up and twirled her at the door of her apartment, laughing out loud like a madman, and she was utterly confused and tried to say so but he was not listening because he was stuck in his own world for that time until he stopped to stare at her violet eyes, cerulean meeting hers, and inside his chest, like a crackling flame, a decision was made.

Minato found himself kissing Kushina, a smile poised on his lips. It was as if he could choke on contentment.

They broke apart after what seemed like hours, surprised at their actions and definitely breathless. Their lips were still a slight hue of pink and both were blushing like tomatoes, not that the Uzumaki woman would disclose that to herself.

"Kushina," the Hokage-to-be whispered as he still carried her in his arms, not bothering to place her back down on her own feet, "…I really wouldn't mind that if one day soon, I could taste your cooking every day. Whatever you cook…it's my favorite."

In shock, it took a few seconds for the woman to understand what he was asking, but when she did, her face morphed into something more crimson than before. "Y—You can't just say something like that so suddenly, ya know," and she smiled softly, smoothly, "I haven't prepared food for you yet today. So…if you're going to eat my cooking every day, I think it's better if I start now."

Beaming, Minato placed her down and followed her inside.

_This has to be some kind of dream_, he thought fondly to himself as he watched her switch on the stove and set a pot of ramen noodles to boil. He didn't even care that he had eaten not an hour or two ago. Time was at a standstill and a spotlight engulfed them like a picture.

He told her everything and the wondrous news and she jumped on him and they laughed and laughed. He was going to be the Yondaime Hokage, the war was ending, and they would be together through it all.

The following day, the village was rejoicing and Minato was pounded with congratulations with each turn on every street corner, Kushina grinning like a fox by his side. He entered the training grounds in the early morning and was greeted by his two remaining students, Kakashi and Rin who was a brunette girl with purple painted stripes on her cheeks.

They bowed and they expressed how proud of him they were and what an honor is was to be _his _students. Minato felt a little more out of it in return.

"Congratulations, sensei," smiled Kakashi, albeit covered by his face mask, "You'll make a great Hokage."

Than man chuckled embarrassedly, hoping against hope that he would indeed meet their high expectations.

And half a year later, the Fourth Hokage of the Village Hidden in the Leaves would be inaugurated into his new position. He would be married to the woman he loved with everything he had, Kushina Uzumaki, with a desire to start a family. The village and many in the shinobi world would later recall this moment as one of the most momentous in history. From the second Minato Namikaze set foot into his office, the world would begin to change and many would quote his first speech from the balcony of Hokage Tower with pride in their voices, _"Those who stray from the path of justice have no courage, but under the wing of a strong leader, cowardice cannot survive." _

The young leader would rule for a little over one year before the Demon Fox would be unleashed upon his home. In that attack many lives were lost, including one of his closest comrade's. Ryu Goto would become just a name on the shiny obsidian surface of the Memorial Stone, another shinobi life lost to the chaos of the world. He would leave his hopeful sweetheart behind, heartbroken and devastated while she lived the life of a lonely medic ninja. Her friendship with the Yondaime drifted slowly apart, an invisible rift cutting between them because she did not want to admit that she was so afraid of his only son, Naruto, and what he held sealed inside him. Kotoko did not want to be afraid of an innocent little boy, especially that of her genin teammate and Hokage, so in order to keep her depressive impulses to herself and in order to keep the poor boy free from any guilt, she kept her distance.

But if all had gone according to plan and Minato had sacrificed his life for his people and his family as he intended to seal the Nine Tails into his son, he would have been one of the most respected kage with the shortest reign…

And maybe it would have been better that way—for Kotoko at least—because then she would never know that Naruto was the child of one of her oldest friends and she would never feel the tremendous culpability she felt as she caught glimpses of the happy little boy with such a heavy burden to bear. But then if that had happened, her other teammate would become a memory also, just another rock face on the mountain, just another father that could not say, "Welcome home," to his child and simply could not say anything at all.

However, that would never happen so easily because Minato Namikaze was a walking legend that was forced to make a difficult choice and with either choice he made, his name was already solidified in the history archives; written forever.

After all, the ones remembered throughout history, who make their mark on history, are those who become the martyrs and those who succeed.

_We walk the paths we want to pave,  
>And find solace in our humanity.<br>We walk the legends of our grave,  
>And find the name of truth in stone.<em>

* * *

><p><strong>Coming up next…<strong>

_**Upside-Down Hourglass **_**will continue as normal with chapter 6.**

**Answers to questions that you might have been wanting to ask:**

(1)_"Well, it wasn't exactly a proposal so to speak. Men did not outright say they would like to marry someone, at least not in their culture. It was more subtle than that, an implication_."** — **In Japanese culture, this is true. They don't always do something elaborate like propose in front of a crowd of people. They usually imply their asking a woman for her hand in marriage by saying things like, "I wonder how it would be like if I could taste your cooking every day," and maybe the woman would reply with, "I could cook for you for a while." Something to that extent. If you need a more thorough explanation, try thinking of the ending of Fullmetal Alchemist (Brotherhood or the manga) if you have read/watched it. You know that one scene with Ed and Winry by the train station when he says something like, "Equivalent Exchange! I'll give you half my life if you give my half of yours!" That was a proposal.

(2) _Yakisoba _is a Japanese dish inspired by _chow mein _from China. It is also a noodle dish like its predecessor, but is typically fried with pieces of some sort of meat (usually pork) with vegetables. It literally means "fried noodles in sauce," which it has an abundance of.

(3) _Tonkatsu _is a Japanese dish that features a breaded, deep-fried pork cutlet and is usually served with shredded cabbage and rice.

Extra note: _Ryu Goto_ is based on a friend of mine who wants to someday write books and be an author. He's also a huge fan of Naruto.


	7. Blue Moon Rising Part I

**AN: Yes I'm aware I'm a generally slow updater, but I always make sure to put my all into these chapters, plus I have been in university for a year now. Also, as a side note, the genin test seems obvious from the start, but don't automatically assume that it is what you think it is.**

**This chapter is two parts long and therefore, part two will be posted after this and by the end of this month since I am leaving the country tomorrow and won't be returning until the 23****rd****. **

**Happy reading!**

**Chapter Six:  
>Blue Moon Rising<strong>

"_One of the greatest and most fantastic challenges in life is not whether we deign to achieve our goals, but whether or not we have the desire and the outstanding drive to do so. And in the end we wait until the moment our true talents show."_

* * *

><p><strong>Part I: To be a Ninja<strong>

Minato rubbed his forehead in annoyance.

He was staring at yet another complaint from the Raikage concerning his "compensation" for the events that happened four years previously when Kumo had attempted to steal Konoha's bloodline limits. At first, the letters were frequent and Minato actually thought that he should listen to them completely for political reasons as to avoid starting a war. After all, A's move on bringing out Yugito Nii, the jinchuuriki for the Two Tails, could easily be considered a declaration of war. But the Hokage wanted to avoid that, even with the anger and frustration it caused him.

Kumo had been utterly stupid. They thought they could take advantage of their resources and their secret weapon to try and take what was precious to their adversary. Of course they could not win. Konoha was too strong, but apparently that did not stop them from trying.

The Raikage was stubborn and reckless indeed.

"Is that another one from A?" asked a deep voice from behind the blond. It was Jiraya.

"Unfortunately," Minato groaned.

"That guy doesn't stop, does he? He needs to cut his losses and accept defeat. It's been a handful of years already. He should be grateful that you're not the kind of person who likes starting wars."

The Hokage found himself sighing out loud. "That's true, but sometimes I think that he wants one; it isn't as if we are allies with Kumo. If anything, they have personally made me their enemy…We got out of the Third War just over a decade ago. How could he really expect the villages to be prepared for another one so soon? Besides," the leader said as his eyes scanned another paper document, "if I were to start a war first then I would appear as less than a benevolent leader and the Third did not appoint me as Hokage with the thought of war on his mind. If I were to declare war first and if the Raikage didn't declare war first himself, then I would not be the man Sarutobi-sama was hoping for. And why would I plunge Konoha into a conflict so willingly anyway? It is not our place."

Jiraya sighed, scratching the back of his head in resigned embarrassment. "You're right again, of course."

A knocking sound on the wood of the door to the Hokage's office resounded and the musical voice of Kushina requested to be let in. When Minato affirmed that she was welcome inside, the door opened up a crack and the two men could see the searching eye of the Uzumaki woman.

"Naruto and I knew that you were busy with a Council meeting while the Academy testing was going on and I knew you just got back from it recently and, ya know, I knew that maybe you were disappointed that you missed it and all so…" She rambled on, making a small smile appear on her husband's face.

Seconds later, a blond head with messy spikes of hair popped out from behind his mother and the twelve-year-old bolted towards the desk of his father who had abruptly stood up in surprise. The Fourth was soundly rammed into by his only son and he made a shocked noise as he felt the excited arms of Naruto wrap around his middle and soon his body was forced to jump up and down in tandem with his son's.

"Dad dad dad dad dad!" the boy excitedly yelled, earning a wince from Jiraya. "Guess what? Guess what?!" And Minato found himself blinking down at Naruto while he laughed, albeit slightly exasperatedly.

The father caught a glimpse of shining metal that wasn't present before on his son's forehead, and the man's face split into a proud expression until he and his wife were beaming together with their kid.

Minato chuckled and patted the yellow spikes atop Naruto's head. "I take it you passed the examinations?"

"That's right!" the preteen bellowed and jumped a bit back from his father in order to smugly show off the glinting and brand new forehead protector that now adorned his forehead; an engraving of a stylized leaf in the middle of it was there to symbolize his home village. "I'm a ninja now!" he added with a flourish and a puff of his chest.

"In no time, I'm gonna be a stronger ninja than you, dad!" And to that statement of his godson, Jiraya laughed out loud, effectively gaining the attention of the Namikaze family.

"No way in hell, runt," the Sannin snickered out. "You won't be going down that road in a long, _long_, time." Then he pointed to Minato who had quirked a blond eyebrow at his teacher, "This brat has been the best student I have ever taught—a genius born only once a generation—do you think a little guy like you can surpass him so easily?"

Kushina fumed near her husband, long locks of red hair flaring up like fire and she raised a fist in anger, intent on punishing the Toad Sage into submission, but then Minato stuck out an arm and held her back, shaking his head 'no' while he decidedly made a point to stare resolutely at their son. She gave him a questioning frown, but did nothing and glanced at Naruto as well.

The boy in question had his eyes fixed on his godfather and his fists were clenched by his sides, clenching tightly.

So in the tense silence, Jiraya waited for something. A spark was fine, a burst of anything. As a teacher, he waited for the right moment and added, "Don't you know that right now you're at the bottom of the barrel…a weak genin?"

Light flashed in Naruto's gaze and finally, there was the emotional response Jiraya was waiting patiently for, and the boy smirked while he lifted his head.

"Ya know, I never said it'd be easy, Pervy Sage!" The new genin agreed loudly. "There are no shortcuts to becoming strong! That's what I was taught, so I'm just going to live up to it!"

The parents grinned and the godfather nodded in approval. It was made apparent that Jiraya of the Sannin was waiting for the light of determination to fill up Naruto. He was testing his will to be a ninja after all.

Resolution was the key.

ooo

The reign of the Fourth Hokage was meant to be one without a war looming on the horizon and so, therefore, there were changes made to the curriculum. That was not to say that the education in Konoha's Ninja Academy was less efficient, in fact it was just the opposite. Training was made into something more streamline than it was previously. But the tradition of placing a weak member on each team in overall test scores along with two members with higher scores was overdone and in a wartime period, that would be enough because then teams weren't made necessarily to survive, but to survive long enough to _work_.

So now genin cells were created based on skills in certain shinobi departments and were made to mesh together in order to complement one another. If one member of a team had strong skills in genjutsu but was alternately weak in taijutsu, there would surely be a member on the team that was strong enough in taijutsu fighting to balance out that weakness.

The academy graduation exam was no longer based on overall scoring, but on who would score the best in certain parts and who still need to work on other aspects so that weaknesses would be clearly displayed so that any individual may easily notice where they need to improve. Of course a certain amount of points added up from each category was needed to pass the exam so that a potential genin candidate would be shown to be adequate enough in mindset and skill set to pass into the ninja world.

The Rookie of the Year award was a tradition that was kept, but as a mere formality to see who collected the highest amount of points. However, it did not mean that that particular rookie was the best in all categories.

"Awesome, Sasuke! You got Rookie of the Year!"

Sasuke Uchiha laughed alongside his best friend, Naruto, who was bouncing up and down excitably in his seat. It was the day after the examinations and the Academy teachers had just announced the awards and placements before telling the graduates their team numbers and assigned jounin teachers. "Yeah but that just means I got the most points out of our graduating class," his lips twitched and he was smirking as he pointed a new fact out, "You got Best in Ninjutsu plus third in taijutsu…"

"…_you_ got first in taijutsu!"

"…Plus you were pretty high up there in fuuinjutsu and not to mention that you got Best Trapper," continued the Uchiha.

Naruto groaned in exasperation. "Yeah but I got dead last in chakra control and pretty low on the written test. You got Best in Genjutsu and high marks in shuriken throwing too, ya know."

"…Yeah but I was the worst at fuuinjutsu…"

An aggravated moan sounded from the blond. "But both of us know you don't really like painting seals. It's not your thing anyway."

Two crumpled up paper balls—one made for each chattering friend—individually hit the boys upside the head. Their shoulders slumped in defeat and they bowed in acceptance that they had been caught talking too loud.

"Oy! If you two idiots are going to socialize that much, you might as well join the gossip circles in the marketplace! Now be quiet and pay attention!" bellowed an irate chuunin instructor who had his brown hair pulled into a ponytail and had a straight scar marring his nose bridge.

The friends sighed in unison, "Yes Iruka-sensei."

The brunette inclined his head in approval and went on to say the team assignments to the class and soon, an hour later, only Naruto, Sasuke, and a pink-haired girl named Sakura were sitting in the classroom and in the quiet. _Of course _they were the last remaining students there. Something like that didn't make the slightest sense, considering who their jounin-sensei was.

The Uchiha groaned. "I can't believe we got that guy to be our sensei." He banged his head on top of the desk in front of him and tilted his vision so that he was looking at his friend beside him. "And your dad didn't say _anything_?"

Naruto only grunted in affirmation.

"Geez. Hokage-sama is secretive even with his own family members," continued the raven.

"You know he's always been that way," responded Naruto, "He only tells me what's necessary. And," then he took a swift sideways glance over to the girl sitting behind them and squealing, "I think he had a feeling neither of us would exactly be happy to have a fan girl on our team…" he added in a whisper.

Both boys rolled their eyes at her antics and the blond joined his companion with his face planted onto the desktop in a show of frustration.

At least they weren't the only ones that pulled the short end of the stick. The duo shuddered in fright when they thought back to the announcements of the teams. Apparently Shikamaru and Chouji got a fan girl too, and her name was Ino Yamanaka.

It was a known fact of the Academy that Sakura and Ino were bitter rivals when it came to boys that were in any way associated with Naruto Namikaze or Sasuke Uchiha. They were the greatest of friends for a while until it was discovered that they had their sights set on the same boys. The two even came up with a horrible nickname for the four of them: the Fearsome Foursome. Sometimes they were even dubbed as the Four Hot Sons, an odd play on words with "suns." Either way, it was not like any of the preteens really enjoyed it.

Kiba and some of the other males in their class poked fun at them from time to time, sometimes referring to them instead as the Four Hot Buns, but mostly the four friends were strangely pitied. As great as it sounded to have hordes of females chasing after you, the results were seen firsthand by the rest of the "normal" classmates. Sadly enough, the fallout was quite awful.

Even if it was for a little consolation, it was good to note that there were some positive points to their predicament. Naruto and Sasuke had each other and so did Chouji and Shikamaru. Naruto briefly wondered if that was done of purpose not only to balance out their strengths and weaknesses, but also to separate the two most prominent fan girls on campus plus balance out the amount of "fan-girliness" each of them could handle.

The blonde's head snapped up when he finally heard the entrance to the classroom creak open.

"Meet me on the roof, Team Seven," a familiar black-haired jounin stated in a serious tone and the genin blinked as soon as he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

The three of them looked around to each other until Sasuke simply shrugged and they headed out the door and up the stairs as a unit.

When they reached the outside of the school and alighted atop the oval-shaped rooftop, the three of them sat themselves uncomfortably on a set of concrete stairs.

The team members exchanged pleasantries and their dubbed teacher, Itachi Uchiha, asked the others to introduce themselves as well, to which Naruto and especially Sasuke did so grudgingly. ("But how could you not already know your own brother?!") They even said some of their dreams for the future in which Naruto respectively replied that he would one day surpass his "old man" and maybe even take his kage seat from him.

"That would be considered treason," Itachi joked good-naturedly.

Sasuke unwaveringly remarked that he would become a strong ninja of the Uchiha Clan and join the Police Force while Sakura bit her lip and continued to squeal, further exasperating her colleagues.

After the introductions, the older Uchiha brother stood up from his perch on the edge of the railings that prevented people from falling off the roof and nodded. "Alright, team. Now that that's over, you will follow me to the training grounds for our first mission: a survival test."

Sakura especially appeared confused. To clarify, the teacher added, "That's right. You will be tested to see if you're ready to become genin." At the baffled looks that now included his brother and his friend, Itachi smirked. "Those exams at the Academy were simply administered to pick out those with the potential to become shinobi, but this test—the _real _genin test—will pick out who is strong enough.

"As you probably have already guessed, this extra exam is kept hidden from you until the day it is given out, and for good reason. The Hokage and the jounin-senei need to test your nerve," he supplied seriously, "And if we were to also inform you that out of the twenty-seven graduates per year, only about nine ever actually become genin above the others that are sent back to the Academy, you probably wouldn't have enough drive to go through the process."

Itachi merely raised his eyebrows at the dumbfounded looks of horror.

"Now, shall we?" And the teacher gestured an arm in front of them, signaling the trio to follow him to their true final examination.

ooo

They only had two hours left until the survival test was over. The first hour was completely and utterly wasted on failed attempts to attack Itachi head on, a grave mistake that Naruto only realized too late. The blond was sure that the others had noticed those fruitless trials as well. Neither of them would try something so pointless again, that was for sure. At least from Naruto's perspective, things could be going a lot worse. The three of them each had their own separate bells attached to their belts.

…it was probably a really horrible idea to try and knock out a jounin anyway. He didn't know what they were thinking.

See, the objective of the test was to make sure that their bells weren't stolen by Itachi, who also had a set of bells attached to his belt loop, or from being stolen from each other. Basically, all of them were against the others. Whoever didn't have a bell by the time the test was over would fail and whoever failed to take at least one bell failed. Itachi would decide whether or not they would be sent back to the Academy id either task was not accomplished. However, though Itachi himself had a bell, it was difficult to count him. After all, what kind of green horn genin would be able to best a jounin?

That was what Naruto was trying to find out. It was bad enough that he was forced to fend for himself, but he was also against his best friend…

"_Why would someone like you understand?!" a furious twelve-year-old boy bellowed to him, standing stiffly atop a rock below the splashing of a mighty waterfall, "You never had a family before, so you couldn't possibly know what it feels like to suddenly lose them all in one night! You may have been alone, but you were never alone after losing everything like I was!_

"_You will never understand me, Naruto!"_

_Then the other ninja launched forward like a rocket gone mad, electricity crackling in sparks in his palm, running forward for a killing blow because he saw Naruto as an adversary now…a measly wall that he had to destroy so that he may reach his ultimate goal of revenge. Naruto had just become an obstacle now and he knew that, but did he want to accept that he had truly lost his first true friend to the darkness in his heart?_

_But the Uzumaki just stood firm, trembling in fear, not for his life, but for his friend. He inherently knew that he did not want to lose like this; he knew that he wanted to live, but how could he become Hokage if he couldn't even save one friend? He might as well die._

_And he saw the lightning blade reaching for him…_

_Coming closer…_

_And closer…_

Naruto Namikaze shook his head furiously. He had a weird daydream again. Most of the time, like at that moment, he didn't even understand what they meant or who the people were. The others in his dreams always seemed too vague, a flickering aura of doubt surrounding them so that their faces were somehow obscure. The dreams sometimes came in odd situations and he didn't know what to make of them. He had only ever told Sasuke about them, and his friend only suggested that it was probably a strange side effect from having the Kyuubi sealed into his gut. He was deeply inclined to agree.

But the jinchuuriki didn't have time to think about that now. He had a bell to steal from Sakura. If he was going to defeat anyone, it was going to be her and not Sasuke.

Naruto noticed the ruffling of the bushes in front of him as he crawled carefully on his elbows below the brush. He saw a flash of pink and knew immediately that it was Sakura who was attempting to hide. He was lucky that he was a quiet mover; otherwise the bells on his person would have made such a tremendous amount of sound that would give his position away immediately.

From what he could see, the girl was quiet reaching into her weapons pouch as a move to reach for a kunai, but then he found that it wasn't just a kunai, but one that had an explosive note wrapped around its handle. The Hokage's son tensed.

Then he saw her crouch over and turn her head to look at something. He spotted a head of black hair. Sasuke had arrived at the scene.

"We just have to find Naruto," he witnessed the kunoichi whisper to his friend. Sasuke didn't seem like he was surprised and Naruto thought that they would outright attack each other, but what she said immediately put him on edge. What exactly did she mean by that? Was Sakura planning on turning against him? "Then we can take the bells for just the two of us. With that guy's chakra control, he would just hold us back."

His azure eyes widened when he saw that his best friend looked like he was about to say something. He was horrified to note that Sasuke actually agreed.

"No," he murmured to himself as he saw the two leap out into the trees before them. He hoped that this wasn't actually happening to him. Sasuke wouldn't betray him, would he?

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard and saw the smoke from an explosion and when he picked up the shout of, "Get over here, Naruto!" from a voice that was clearly Sasuke's, he assumed that the ruckus was the from kunai that Sakura had most likely thrown in order to weed him out. Sasuke was on _her _side and so the blond clenched his eyes shut.

He had no choice but to attack them back.

The blond reached into his pouch and retrieved a handful of shuriken. In a second he was gone with barely a rustle and the sound of a slight tinkling of a bell could be heard in his wake. However, he did not notice that the scene he had just abandoned rippled away like a faded memory.

And when Naruto hopped from tree branch to tree branch, picking up speed as he went, the billowing gray smoke only appeared to grow ominously taller as he got closer.

Bursting through the gases and leaves, he saw Sasuke with a kunai held firmly in his fists and a battered appearance, growling in annoyance as he stood in a horse stance in the middle of a circular clearing in the forest. There were dirt and char marks flecked all over his clothing.

"Where did you go?" the raven snarled out.

Naruto noticed the bell that tingled precariously on his belt loop and decided that it was his chance. He pulled a cloth ball from his pockets and hurled it towards the ground near the Uchiha's sandals and the smoke bomb released, white clouds rupturing forth from it like thick mist snaking in all directions.

Naruto jumped from his tree branch and waded his way through the blur as stealthily as possible, all the while hearing Sasuke cough from the shock. He cautiously crouched down and his hand almost fingered the bells on the waistband of his friend…so close…and then—

Another pale hand grabbed his wrist.

An onyx gaze that could only belong to Sasuke stared at his own blue one directly and with suspicion. "What do you think you're doing, loser?" scowled the Uchiha. "I didn't want to believe it but now I see! You were teaming up with Sakura to steal my bells!"

Naruto recoiled, his mouth agape. "What? No way!" he retorted. "I'm only trying to take your bells because I heard _you _team up with Sakura to take _mine_!"

"Don't lie! I threw that paper bomb because I saw you coming from there," and Sasuke signaled to the path behind him. "I heard you talking up in the trees!"

The Namikaze hissed, "That's crap! I came from the opposite direction!" And he pointed to the forest that he just came from. "I clearly saw you and her talking behind the bushes and Sakura had the kunai!"

"That's—"

A gigantic crack formed beneath their feet and the boys were forced to split apart; they jumped in order to avoid the new attack. Sakura Haruno emerged from the dust, twirling the handle of a kunai knife. Apparently she had laid a trap for the two. There was a determined and oddly hurt look in her eyes as she walked forward and the blond and the raven glared at her with undefined distrust.

"I knew it," the girl spoke with a resigned voice, "I heard you two plotting to take my bells, and now I found you here together." Her pupils darted to the side. It was clear that she was conflicted about the prospect of the situation.

At the same time, both Naruto and Sasuke moved to correct her statement by respectively shouting that she had been planning against _them_.

Subsequently, a heated argument ensued. Naruto and Sasuke were howling obscenities at each other, each dumbfounded that each boy would actually betray the other, the glint of sadness and offense marring their expressions. Sakura was equally as hurt and he was shouting with raised fists and her shoulder length pink hair was flying all over the place and even into her face and mouth, but she didn't seem to care at that moment.

Eventually it got to the point where the three of them lifted their weapons at each other, each intent on snatching a bell, completely forgetting that Itachi was also a possible candidate. As soon as the first shuriken was thrown, Naruto was in a locked and fierce taijutsu battle with his friend and the girl was leaping around them, trying to find an opening.

The Hoake's son was pushed backwards, sliding on the ground with brute force and his backside was suddenly patted down with heaping amounts of soil. He made a desperate grunting noise and he flayed his arms about him in an attempt to slow down the momentum…

_For a brief few seconds he was on another empty clearing, the face of an undead man standing before him. The man, whose hair was black, had a set of red eyes with dark tomoe swirling within them. The sclera, however, were also pure black to signify the use of a forbidden jutsu that revived him._

"_Listen and remember," the man in the strange dark robes said to Naruto,"the reason the people of the village who used to hate you started to admire you and consider you their comrade, is that you've always worked hard because you wanted to be acknowledged by them._

"_You said, 'It's thanks to everybody that I've come this far,'" continued he. "No matter how powerful you become, never try to shoulder everything alone, otherwise you will undoubtedly fail." And Naruto only stared in wonder because indeed, he had almost forgotten. "Your father, Minato, could become Hokage because he had your mother, Kushina and all the others."_

_The shinobi gave the blond another look and he pressed on._

"_Your dream is the same as your father's isn't it? Then remember…"And he gave Naruto an intense look that he would never overlook even if he tried, "It's not that if you become Hokage you will be acknowledged, it is the ones who are acknowledged that can become Hokage._

"_Do not forget your friends."_

…And Naruto's gaze snapped back up. He narrowly missed a punch to the face as he rolled out of the way, retaking his surroundings with a keen eye. Of all the times to have a weird daydream, now certainly wasn't the best time, but he thought that maybe for once, this one could be useful. He had his sense knocked back into him.

He huffed, bouncing back onto his feet with a spring and saw Sasuke and Sakura now facing off at each other. He patted his belt and was relieved to find that his set of bells was still dangling there. Whoever attacked him must have given up as soon as he dodged in favor of another enemy that was still willing to strike.

Just as Sasuke was about to hurl a shuriken at the girl, Naruto bellowed, "Stop!"

In response, the Uchiha skidded to a halt, a stunned look on his features. Sakura too glanced over at his direction, a feeling of confusion overtaking the previous amounts of fight swelling in her body.

"Don't you see what's going on here?" asked the twelve-year-old. "We're blaming each other but all of us are saying that we're not guilty!"

Sasuke dropped his throwing arm, curiosity also taking a hold of him. "What do you mean? I know what I saw." And the girl heartily agreed with him.

"Or do you know what you saw?" inquired the other friend forcibly. "I thought I saw you planning against me with Sakura, but you and her totally deny it. You thought you saw me with Sakura, but I _know _ I didn't, and she thinks she saw me and you trying to think of a way to take her bell, but both of us know we didn't do that either."

Realization dawned on both Sasuke and Sakura.

"Genjutsu!" the younger Uchiha brother exclaimed. "It would be just like my brother to do that!"

Sakura nodded. "He pitted us against each other!"

"Right!" Naruto marveled out loud. "I think he wants to see what we'll do! We have to trust each other, no matter what! Look," he went on, "We could probably try and take bells from each other, but then we would be forgetting that sensei is around, right?" The others nodded in acceptance. That had happened. "But if we went against each other, what's the point of Itachi-sensei having bells?"

Sasuke smirked and he placed his leftover weapons back into his pouch. The other two followed suit.

"So," the clan member remarked, eying his teammates, "what's the plan?"

"We work together to take our sensei's bells."

And so the three of them set off minutes later, a plan clear-cut in their minds. Well, as clear as it could ever be. No one really knew how well things would go, especially against an elite ninja. They hid separately from each other, staring intently at the jounin who was currently standing with a bored expression on his face just on the outskirts of the forest.

Itachi peered upwards and said, "I know you three are there. You only have a few minutes left. Did any of you lose a bell yet?"

"Yeah, I did, sensei," said someone and it was revealed that the three teammates walked out together and Naruto looked resigned as Sasuke dangled his friend's bell at his fingertips, a proud smile on his lips.

"Oh, that's really a shame, Naruto," replied Itachi with a seemingly sad façade.

A second passed and suddenly the teenager launched at the three of them, surprising them and he calmly stated, "It's too bad that none of you are real," and he swiftly swept a kick under their legs until the three shadow close disappeared in a puff of dust and smoke. Green leaves flew upwards in response, twirling in circles in midair.

The air rustled and out of nowhere came a thick weaved rope that tied itself around Itachi's leg just as he was about to straighten himself from the martial arts he had performed. The man grunted and he was lifted up into a tree speedily, the wind zipping around his eardrums. Atop the tree that had captured him was Sakura. She had a knife in her hand and the other was holding the other half of the cut rope. It was made apparent that she was the one to trigger the trap that he knew Naruto had helped set up.

Rapidly, her fingers made to snatch the bells from his waist, but the teacher was too quick for her. He somehow flipped in the air, even with his ankle tied in a knot, and he used a mild fire jutsu to burn the rope away before she could do anything more.

The jounin fell to the ground and rolled on impact until there was a gigantic ball of flames headed in his direction. Blinking, and trying to hide that he was impressed, Itachi countered it with a fireball technique of his own.

An erratic and grating sound enveloped the clearing and Itachi realized almost too late that the girl had activated another trap made out of ninja wires that was heading his way. He skillfully avoided them. Then, a smoke bomb activated and out of the midst came out about twenty different clones; all made to look like Sasuke and Sakura. He was surrounded.

"Where's the other one, little brother?" questioned Itachi, "I know that out of the three of you, Naruto is the best at making shadow clones, so that leads me to deduce that he's the one making these."

"Not telling," all the copies of Sasuke said at once, including the real one who was hiding among them.

Itachi quickly made hand signs and stated, "Water Release: Dispersing Waves!" As a consequence, gushing water exploded from his palms and surrounded him in a circle, like a ring. The popping noises of defeated clones resounded, but then directly behind him, he heard his brother release another grand fireball, but water always beats fire in a battle.

The two elements clashed and blew outward into steam and huge droplets of liquid fell from the sky as if it was raining on that sunny day. The flames were easily doused away.

Shuriken flew and he couldn't tell from whom they came from exactly, but it forced him to back up and the mist was obscuring his vision as well. He was tempted to let out Water Release: Water Bullet Technique, but he knew that was an S-rank technique. He already knew that even if the genin went all out, he himself could not afford to do the same.

Itachi felt a palm press against his back and the telltale sounds of tingling bells could be heard. He dodged just as Sasuke was about to touch his precious cargo, but as soon as he was about to leap far away, an arm clad in an orange and black jacket erupted from the earth beneath them and grabbed his ankle. Sasuke made further attempts to push Itachi backwards and the hand clenched so tightly that it was difficult for him to move anymore, and Naruto came bursting along with his hand, a resolute gleam in his eyes, Sasuke punching as swiftly as possible, Sakura in a battle ready stance with steam encircling her legs, and Naruto made a grab for the bells…

_Brrrrring!_

Everything seemed to be brought at a standstill, and then, calmly, Itachi spoke, "Well, it looks like the test is over."

The remaining smoke had finally dispersed and the three students looked downward, dejected. Though all three of them managed to keep their bells, none of them had succeeded in obtaining another. It looked like they had all failed.

"I see," supplemented the teenager, "It looks like none of you achieved the objective…" He watched as the shoulders of each member of the trio sagged. "At least the three of you can leave this field with the knowledge that you have understood the purpose of this examination."

Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto all glanced up swiftly in astonishment.

"See, your test wasn't just about trusting in your comrades, but about being able to look underneath the underneath in order to do so," Itachi informed Team Seven. He allowed a few seconds of silence to pass in hopes that the message would sink in. Then, the teenager did something peculiar and grinned widely, bewildering his younger brother.

He leaned over and whispered loudly enough so that only the three of them could hear, "You _pass_."

But just as the students were about to start rejoicing, the jounin placed his hands on each of their heads and ruffled their hair, effectively making each team member look like they had just woken up and gotten out of bed. Then, he smiled slightly, a strange sinister expression on his face, and declared in an all too jovial tone, "And now for the final lesson for today!" The teacher put his hands together in the symbol of the ram. Smoke exploded into existence. "Never trust your enemies!"

And there, standing before the three man squad, was Kakashi Hatake.

The mouths of Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura all dropped open in shock. "HUH?!"

"Ah, my cute genin team," chuckled the man, "That was what we call a Transformation Technique. If I were the real enemy, my trick to make you believe that I was actually Itachi Uchiha would have been a fatal one. Looks like we'll have to work on that.

"Anyway, first mission is tomorrow. Come to Training Ground Seven at eight o'clock sharp! Don't be late because—"

Naruto's eyelid twitched viciously. "_You're _going to be at least two hours late," the boy interjected and Kakashi put his hands up to placate him, laughing nervously at the venomous expression he was bestowing. The poor man was practically being backed up into a corner as Sakura shrank into the background, never having seen her new teammate as furious as he was, and Sasuke had an annoyed scowl on his face, his arms firmly crossed.

The blond stalked his newly revealed teacher until Kakashi had his back pressed up against a tree trunk. He jabbed a finger onto the man's chest and the nervous laughter only grew more pronounced. It was no secret to Naruto's closest comrades that the preteen had inherited some of his mother's attitude so that if he was provoked enough, the turnout could be _scary_.

"Dad was in on this, wasn't he?" he queried with narrowed eyes.

The jounin only closed his eyes as if smiling and hastily stuttered out, "Ha ha, well looks like my work is done here! See you!" And the ninja disappeared with a poof.

Annoyed, Naruto turned to glower at his teammates, earning him an amused but equally just as irked look from Sasuke.

"When I see that guy tomorrow after he's hours late," the blond vehemently snarled, "I'm gonna ask my dad if _that's_ considered treason if I kill him."

"Who was that guy then?" Sakura requested from the two boys confusedly. She only received angry glowers.

ooo

"Ugh! There is no way I can do this right! This is impossible!"

Minato emitted a soft and extraordinarily patient sigh. "You just started working on this when you graduated, so it's only been about a month and a half. I did say that learning the Hiraishin would be difficult and would likely take up a lot of time. That and you're lucky to even be in the process of learning an S-rank technique. You need to be tolerant, son."

Father and son were outside in the private training grounds that sat behind the Hokage's Mansion. The sun was just peeking out from behind the horizon and its rays sprayed across the field like streaks of light yellow paint. Behind the sliding wood and rice paper doors, both could hear the clashing of pots and pans and other cookware as Kushina struggled to create a hearty breakfast. Not that they doubted her, of course. She was a fantastic cook, just a clumsy one.

Kushina had this way about her that both males knew. She could practically make anything from scratch including, of course, the most tasty ramen (in both their opinions), that could easily rival Ichiraku's. She could accidentally knock over too much cinnamon into homemade applesauce, but yet somehow make it work still by improving on the other aspects of the taste so that everything would balance out instead of turning out to be a disaster.

The best cook in all of Konoha and perhaps in all of the elemental nations, according to her husband and son, was Kushina. So far, no one could dispute the fact nor would they dare especially after Jiraya had teasingly and jokingly did so. That incident did not fare well for the man. He ended up with a nasty purpling bruise on his head and a concussion that resulted in a trip to the hospital.

"Yeah but I can't even teleport somewhere yet without your help," grumbled Naruto.

The father smiled and placed an encouraging hand on his son's shoulder. "Look, it even took me a long time before I could master the technique and I was the one who created it." He nodded over to the three pronged kunai that was lodged in the grass meters away. "One day you'll reach that kunai and you'll have succeeded."

The younger Namikaze tried to intervene. "But—" He was cut off when his dad started to ruffle the hair on top of Naruto's head.

"There's no rush," Minato went on to explain, "As long as you work hard, you will get there eventually. There isn't a war going on either, so just concentrate on improving at a steady pace rather than a fast one."

At the dejected emotion his son was emitting, the Hokage only chuckled and suggested that he try going towards the target again. He told the preteen to concentrate on the destination rather than the seal inked onto the handle of the kunai.

In a second, there was indeed a yellow flash in the clearing, but it stopped too soon. Naruto had apparently managed to teleport towards the stuck weapon, but only moved about half a foot forward. He continued to grumble when he marked the ground by etching a line into it with the sharp edge of one of his kunai knives.

Minato grinned at the scene and chimed, "See? You're already doing better! You got further than last time…"

"Yeah by an inch," Naruto frowned.

"Don't be like that. You can do it. I know you can."

The conversation was interrupted by the shout of, "Boys! Breakfast is ready! Get your lazy butts to the table!" One that didn't know would say that Kushina was in another interesting mood that morning, but to the pair, they already knew that that was the norm.

But that didn't mean that Naruto had to appreciate it. "_Lazy? _What was that—" The father took his son by the back of his jacket and shook his head.

"I know you're still upset, but you know better than to provoke her," the older blond mildly informed.

Effectively deflated, both Namikazes made their way inside and into the dining area near the kitchen where square porcelain plates were set for the three of them and pairs of black chopsticks were laid out beside them on their respective holders. Bowls of steamed rice big enough for an individual person were also set next to each place setting. In the center of the round table was a plateful of tamagoyaki (1) wrapped in strips of seaweed, another plate of three small crunchy looking broiled fish, and a large pot of steaming miso soup with a stack of empty bowls by it.

Dumbfounded, Naruto pulled out a chair and sat down excitedly. "Wow, mom! You really outdid yourself this time!"

Kushina beamed, sitting down as well next to her husband and replied, "Well I just had to, ya know! I heard that today a certain someone was gonna get their first—"

"Shh!" Minato hushed his wife. "I haven't told them yet! Only the sensei knows because he requested it. I want to keep it a surprise." And he winked over to her and she giggled out an agreement, to which Naruto only sank into confusion.

"What are you guys talking about?" the boy asked.

"Ha ha," the mother laughed, "Nothing, nothing." She picked up her chopsticks, gesturing for the other two to follow her lead, "Let's just eat."

After exclaiming that they were thankful for the food, the family dug into the meal with enthusiasm. The fish and eggs were gone in minutes and while he gathered up his plate and utensils, Naruto shot his father an odd look.

"Aren't you supposed to be at the Tower already, dad?"

Kushina threw him a suspicious glare as well. "You've been stalling, haven't you? Let me guess…you have a meeting with the Elders again!"

Minato chocked and scratched the back of his head in a nervous gesture while he chuckled under his breath. "Uh…well," his gaze flickered over to his son, avoiding the Uzumaki woman's stare, "Anyway, isn't it time for you to be heading out to the training grounds?"

"_Dad!_" the kid whined,_ "_You know Kakashi-nii will be late anyways!"

"That doesn't mean _you_ should be late," Minato tut-tutted as he shooed his son out the front door. "Now get going."

When the entrance panels slid shut, Naruto clearly heard the loud reprimands that his mother was bellowing to his father and the panicked chortling that followed. Naruto knew that his dad's attempts to placate his fuming parent would do next to nothing productive. At least it was hilarious that the strongest ninja in the village could be scared witless by a single woman with anger management issues.

So maybe he shouldn't say that out loud. His mother would probably kill him too.

_Serves him right for stalling like that_, thought the boy. He patted his sides and was grateful to note that he already had his weapons pouches attached to his pants. He didn't feel like it was such a great idea to come marching back into his house especially when his mom was in one of her moods.

He made his way to Training Ground Seven which was a field that was somewhat near to his old school and when he arrived, he was not surprised to see that his teammates minus Kakashi were there. It was almost two hours past the time they were scheduled to meet, but their teacher was never on time anyway.

Sitting below a tree, Sakura had a blue book open on her lap with a title written in silver that read as _Sky Myths_. At least she was intelligent and brought something to entertain and preoccupy herself with until their less than punctual instructor arrived. Sasuke appeared to be slumped over and sleeping with his arms crossed.

"Did you know that some people think that Ursa Major really used to be a bear and was sent up to the sky by some higher being? Some other people think that the seven stars represent the seven celestial palaces of the Star God of Longevity or something," the only girl on the team reported to the other two members sitting resignedly beside her, not perceiving that one of her crushes was not conscious enough to understand. She aimed to please, or rather, attempt to impress them.

"You really like reading that stuff?" Naruto supplied tiredly.

The kunoichi only smiled and further educated, "And did you know that some people think that the full moon makes you crazy? They even have this weird saying that if there's a second full moon in a month, it wouldn't only make you go crazy, but it could be a sign of betrayal!" Her green eyes lit up with fascination.

Sasuke finally lifted his head from his chest and blearily asked, "Isn't a second full moon in a month called a blue moon?"

"Yeah, yeah," the girl agreed happily, "Something like that."

Naruto looked around the empty training field and groaned. He realized at that moment that he really should have not expected to see any other kind of turn up. Kakashi was always late, no matter what, unless it was something particularly urgent like an A-rank mission or an angry summons from the Hokage. (Not that it really made much a difference. Minato had made it a point to lie about the time the jounin was needed for gatherings so that he would end up coming earlier than expected.)

So when the teacher in question popped up in front of the trio sooner than expected, he actually jumped in his seat.

"What are you doing here?" blinked the blond.

"I'm supposed to be here of course," Kakashi mildly responded, waving a gloved hand.

"No I mean what are you doing here so early?"

The inquiry was promptly ignored and the Hatake went on to explain that they would be receiving a mission that day and the three students complained because none of them wanted a D-rank that involved them babysitting the annoying triplets of the Councilman's again. That had ended up in an explosion of multiple pillows in the home that unfortunately contained the kinds of feathers that you didn't want up your nose.

Naruto groaned about the possibility of having to chase down that stupid cat owned by the Fire Daimyo's wife again. Poor Tora was being squished to death and awfully abused by suffocation and that was why she was running away. But the fact was Naruto hated cats, especially when they turned out scratching up his face and leaving a very sullen Yondaime's son in their wake.

However, Kakashi simply laughed it off and told the team that they would be getting their mission statements after they did a bit of light training—the preteens moaned at this—if one could call it light. The man's training was awfully brutal, often involving fifty laps around the village…with someone called Konoha's Green Beast, Might Guy. (But in Naruto's mind the green spandex wearing guy should probably have his name written in all capital letters to fit his "youthful" personality.)

It was torture they didn't necessarily enjoy.

Fortunately for them, they knew deep down that the training was highly effective. Each of them noticed their improvements in various aspects within the timespan that they had begun work under Kakashi.

With his training, it became apparent why the members of Team Seven were put together. With the new system in the Academy set in place for years, the traditional ranking of "dead last" and "Rookie of the Year" was almost totally gone. So instead the teams were set up according to pure skill set.

Naruto's taijutsu was steadily improving and his chakra control, while still regrettably abysmal, was being worked on. Sakura was gaining strength and endurance, but could easily use her smarts to help out with strategies. She often helped the other two with chakra control as well. Sasuke went to Naruto for help with ninjutsu and he would supply assistance in genjutsu, though Naruto doubted he would ever master it on his own.

But in the meantime, their strengths and weaknesses in various aspects of the shinobi arts balanced each other out.

"You already mastered tree climbing," Kakashi stated in a seemingly uninterested tenor, "So we're going to start with water walking today." He received an especially unhappy groan from Naruto who pointed out that he was probably going to be horrible at it. "And that's why we're working on it. Everyone on this team, particularly you, needs to improve their chakra control. Your jutsu will develop strongly if you master it. You know that.

"Anyway," the man persisted, "After about two hours of training on that, we'll be going to the Tower for today's mission."

A couple of hours later, the trio of students was soaking wet with freezing lake water. The jounin instructor giddily informed them that they would be working on the "_scalding hot springs water that will most likely leave a multitude of second degree burns"_ next. Those were his words, not theirs.

The team members sighed together, not bothering to completely dry off, and followed their sadistic teacher towards the entry of the Hokage's base of operations at a sedate pace. They felt the villagers' amused gawks as they walked by dripping. Their sandals made funny _sloop-plop _sounds as they stepped on the streets. A small group of Academy students who were on lunch break could be heard snorting with mirth in the background.

How embarrassing.

And after that experience, a brooding group of genin entered the office of their Fourth Hokage, expecting some horrible D-rank that would involve all three of them doing an insanely impossible household chore that they all silently agreed should be done by the clients themselves, not that they would really say anything aloud.

"Team Seven reporting for a mission, Hokage-sensei," Kakashi cheerily sang. Minato shook his head at the nickname his only surviving pupil had cooked up for him.

The three seemingly wilted in their places and Naruto looked up to his father saying, "Please give us a decent D-rank this time, Hokage-sama." The father appeared amused at his son's chosen way of addressing him. It seemed like he was subtly trying to beg for this one. "I don't think any of us can handle a potato picking operation, especially after the torture your pervert of a student calls training had us do."

Sasuke and Sakura silently agreed and Kakashi giggled to himself, his masked face buried in an orange covered pornographic novel.

The leader beamed and picked up a tightly wound scroll while the assistant who just so happened to be Iruka-sensei, wrote down the ranking and the number of the team that would take it on a separate sheet of official looking paper.

"Looks like you're in luck," Minato sounded entertained, earning a narrowed stare from his son. "Your sensei has fortunately requested that you take your first C-rank mission, effective in an hour when you leave the village."

Naruto's mouth was open.

The father pointedly glared at his son. "Naruto, shut your mouth when someone is talking to you. You look like a drooling Jiraya-sensei." The boy immediately followed orders bashfully, but the rest of the occupants in the room laughed at the scolding.

"Alright, Team Seven," said Minato sternly. He was suddenly serious and his son detected the change in mood quickly. The Fourth shifted his gaze earnestly from one member of the cell to another, "Your mission is to act as bodyguards from a group of bandits that have been recently swarming the area. You will be serving a group of merchants that are transporting new cargo from their home village of Mie to another village in the same region called Saga. When they have safely delivered their goods, you will report back to me.

"In an hour you will journey to the Land of Rice Paddies and to Mie where you will meet your clients."

**Coming up next…**

**Chapter Six: Blue Moon Rising Part II (Snake Eyes)**

_**Team Seven finally embarks on their first C-rank mission.**_

**Answers to questions that you might have been wanting to ask…**

(1) _Tamagoyaki _is a Japanese dish that is made of eggs, usually referred to as a sweet egg omelet and it is served typically in a similar fashion to sushi in which the main contents are wrapped in seaweed.

- A traditional Japanese breakfast is obviously not like a Western one. Typical of any Asian country, breakfast usually includes rice which is a huge staple. And yes I would know this considering that I am Asian myself. Where my family is from, we usually eat garlic rice with sausage or fried chicken in the morning. In a more Westernized version, I sometimes eat bacon or scrambled eggs with white rice. It doesn't mean we do it all the time, just often. And yes, in a traditional Japanese breakfast there is rice also, the usual miso soup, fish, natto beans, and dried seaweed.


	8. Blue Moon Rising Part II

**AN: I am **_**so sorry **_**that this took me 8 months to update. That was ridiculous. But now, I have a regular updating schedule, and considering I'm trying to give up procrastination, it is working so far. Originally, this chapter was supposed to be the second and last installment of this arc, but I figured that it might be too long if I kept the last half in and I wanted to post this as soon as possible to keep with my update schedule. However because I have a schedule now, the next update (and the third and last chapter of this arc) will be by the end of this week. Give or take a day or so, and I'm only saying that to give me a little leeway because I have 3 exams, a peer review, and 2 quizzes this upcoming week…**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter! It's a bit slower than usual at first, but it is necessary for the climax. Keep in mind that many of the characters introduced here may be relevant to future chapters.**

**Chapter Six:  
>Blue Moon Rising<strong>

"_Look underneath the perceived reality to uncover the real truth of things. This is how you thrive."_

* * *

><p><strong>Part II: Snake Eyes<strong>

Dog tags were used in military services as a form of identification. They were markers of sorts, an (hopefully) adequate enough way of recognizing the owners. However, those tags were never simple ones in theory. Though they were made out to be mass produced and straightforward, the concept always had that deeper, darker, meaning. They had a clearly twisted way of reminding shinobi just how serious their occupation was from the day they signed up for it.

In a sense, dog tags were symbols of those shinobi would lose and those they had lost. On a corpse at least, they branded the dead.

Kotoko was a kunoichi who was all too aware of that fact. She fingered the shiny metal dog tag that dangled from her neck. It clinked slightly against the second one she also wore that had the name of her deceased fiancé etched onto its surface. His name felt cold on the pad of her thumb and she rubbed the metal in a continuous and intrinsic habit.

Carved there was the eternal reminder that _Ryu Goto _was in fact dead and had disappeared from the world completely about twelve years previously on that night. _That night _twelve years ago. _That night _when the fox attacked their home and destroyed not only lives, but families as well.

The woman walked with her curly dark hair dancing back and forth as it brushed against the forest green of her jounin vest. She tucked the chain that held the tags on it back under her mesh undershirt and continued on her way.

To some, Kotoko would be a forgettable person with a forgettable personality, but that was only because she willed it to be so. She did not want to be noticed. She did not want to be bothered. In fact, it was probably better for everyone if she just blended into the background and barely existed. That way, she would not have to see _that boy _and look at him and see her old teammate—_that boy's father, _and feel the overwhelming guilt settle in the pit of her stomach.

Yet, Kotoko was not always that way. She used to be a vibrant person that would smile widely and make playful remarks to her friends. She was kind and thoughtful, the kind of person who would come up to someone and offer a hello simply for the reason that they appeared lonely. She used to be openly creative, which was probably the reason she was such a talented genjutsu specialist, but creative in the sense that she used to paint and draw for others as birthday gifts.

The kunoichi she used to be was a loving one who was giving and lively when spoken to. Her heart was large and she was willing to share it.

But then, twelve years ago, that one event changed it all.

So she became seemingly cold and distant towards others. She remained respectful and obedient, but she never went out in public as often as her friends would have liked. However, nothing could change it because _Ryu was dead now_ and nothing and no one could bring the dead back to life.

But her heart stayed the same. Kotoko never loved too little; she loved too much.

You see, she could even acknowledge the person who contained her loved one's killer. As much as she detested that creature, that _monster _that was the Nine-Tailed Fox, she could not bring herself to hate Naruto. Yet she could not bring herself to love him just for who he was—a mere child, either.

Perhaps the turmoil was made more difficult because of the fact that she was one of the few people that knew her old teammate who happened to be her Fourth Hokage, was going to have a child at that time. She had not known the exact identity of the boy, nor what his gender would be, nor even his name or the target birth date. Things like that were kept a secret outside a certain group for obvious reasons, but she and Ryu who had been teammates to Minato, were part of the handful that knew that he was to have a kid in the first place.

She remembered how absolutely honored and excited Ryu had been. "Can you believe that _our _little squirt is going to have a mini-squirt soon?!" he had bellowed happily, practically skipping on his feet. Kotoko remembered it clearly how he profusely congratulated Minato and slapped the grinning man on the back while he laughed. Ryu loved kids and if he had it his way, he would have "corrupted" the child as Minato had used to call it jokingly.

Kotoko almost shuddered at the thought of Minato also losing his life that night as he had originally planned. Then she would never know the name of that child he was supposed to have. She would be alone without either of her best childhood friends. She closed her hazel eyes, resigned and partially terrified at the idea that she may have been too weak in her heart to live in the village any longer if it meant living with _that boy _who would probably be prancing around without a care and with no parents to guide him and possibly no lead to his true identity.

She may have only seen Naruto as more of the demon than the boy for killing both her fiancé and her friend if she never knew who he was and why.

But regardless, that did not make things any easier as she watched Naruto then, her gaze following him as he stood up straighter, his spine snapped taut in front of the Hokage's desk.

"Here is your mission scroll, Team Seven," she heard the voice of her former teammate state with that authoritative tone of his as she gently pushed open the door and stepped into the room and waited patiently for her turn to make a report.

The brunette woman watched as Kakashi Hatake nodded at his sensei and took the scroll in his gloved palms, carefully patting the item into his back weapons pouch.

He and his team appeared to be packed for a mission that would take at least a week. The genin's forms were ready and their stances wide and strong as if they were prepared for something like that the whole of their short lives. For a second, it made her think of the days when she, Ryu, and Minato were all on Jiraya-sensei's team during the Third War before Minato was apprenticed by their teacher.

"I expect that this mission will take about a week, but I will give you a few days leeway just in case there are traveling issues as always," the Yondaime informed the genin cell. "It should be a simple C-rank so," and Kotoko noticed the meaningful look the man gave his son, "do not go looking for trouble when there won't be any."

She saw how the smaller blond rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.

"I'm sure they can handle escort," Kakashi said after he performed an onceover on the three shifting young ninja.

Kotoko moved slightly forward, subtly entranced with the look on Minato's face as he replied with a, "Oh I know they can do it," and then he smirked and he was suddenly glowing with only the kind of pride any man who was a father could exude, "You'll do fine."

From that last line alone, she knew that he was especially talking to Naruto who had suddenly seemed nervous at the prospect of finally leaving his home for a job.

The woman observed how Naruto seemed oddly sheepish and she could almost see the soft smile that showed up on his face like a slow growing brightness of a star and he bowed his head with a whispered, "Yeah."

The genjutsu specialist felt that guilt take over her gut again, like ivy would as it wrapped around her middle in twists and turns to strangle her. She had a desperate urge to touch the extra dog tag again just to feel Ryu's name, Ryu's presence in the room.

And then the shame, the tremendous, overpowering feeling, encased her in its arms as she witnessed _that boy _travel out of the office with a grin over his shoulder to his father and an enthusiastic reply to something one of his teammates had said. Minato's stare lingered on Naruto slightly longer than on the others as they exited, and the guilt festered deeper.

But then that terrible emotion solidified as Naruto turned around, a joyful beam on his face, and he greeted her with the single statement that made her crumble on the inside because she could not bring herself to fully care for someone that contained the thing that had killed her loved one even though she knew in her gut that he was so innocent and not at all evil…

"See ya later, Kotoko-san!" And the bouncing blond was out the door in a flourish, but she never responded to him. She barely even spoke to him because her fingers trembled every time she did.

In her heart, she wanted to be able to say something to Naruto as well, if not for her former teammate's sake, but for Ryu's, but instead she faced her friend as the Hokage and not as a classmate.

"Kotoko Yagi reporting from a successful B-rank mission, Yondaime-sama," she remarked and Minato looked up at his friend as if seeing her for the first time, but that did not stop her from noticing that bittersweet sadness in his eyes as he let his stare flicker back to the retreating backs of Team Seven for a single second before coming back to her.

"I'm glad to hear it," the leader replied and it was back to official business like nothing out of the ordinary had occurred.

There was no mistaking it. Even as the woman made her report, recounting how she had defeated the enemy missing-nin from stealing the valuable golden treasure from the Fire Daimyo's palace, she felt the persistent shame in the back of her mind.

She and Ryu had always known from the moment that they met Minato Namikaze that he was no idiot and even Jiraya had known that the man would go places. He was the prodigy of their generation and was incredibly intelligent and shrewd. But he had this one aspect of his personality that both he and Kushina shared: he could make anyone want to listen to him.

Things like that made someone observant. So Kotoko knew inherently that even though the two had maintained their friendship throughout the years even with the loss of their third team member, that he was always watching her closely whenever she was around his son.

And this was all because she knew that Minato Namikaze was not stupid.

The guilt would always trouble her because Minato discerned that she feared his only son…and Ryu would be so disappointed in her.

ooo

Team Seven walked as a group down the dirt road surrounded by the typical forests that enveloped the Land of Fire. The heat was sweltering in the summer air and each of them could adequately feel the heat seeping into their clothing like a furnace would if it slow cooked their skin. The dampness of sweat already started to soak into the fabrics.

Just a bit over a day into their mission, the group was just a handful of kilometers away from the sprawling farming village of Mie which sat to the northeast of Konoha just near the border of Fire Country on the side of the Land of Rice Paddies.

They were on the way to the Ueda Family Merchant House (1). It was a budding business that had only started just less than five years previously, but their success was well known throughout the small country because of their ability to trade quality rice, starches, and farming supplies. Not to mention that they were practically becoming legendary with their homemade rice cakes that many were praising highly and the Fire Daimyo was hard-pressed to try some of his own.

The terrain was evening out and the trees of the Konoha ninjas' homeland were disappearing behind them, allowing the sun's rays to come crashing down in waves through the little shade covering them.

Naruto had even changed out of his normal black and orange jacket because of its long sleeves and instead opted for wearing an alternative set of clothes. He wore a russet orange shirt underneath a light gray zipped-up vest with a hood and the Uzumaki swirl patched onto the back. His pants were made of the typical shinobi style material, but they were dark gray so that they complimented the lighter color of his vest. The bottoms only reach up to his ankles and were threaded together in the same color of orange as his shirt. Below them he sported his navy shinobi sandals.

Sasuke wore the usual Uchiha fashion with the dark blue shirt and wide collar. The symbol of the Police Force that consisted of a dark shuirken and the Uchiha red and white fan on top of it was stitched onto one of the sleeves. The pattern was outlined in yellow to show that he was still a member in training. His shorts were long and white and slightly ruffled from the dirt the team had to sleep in.

Sakura had on her red dress with the white circle stitched onto the back symbolizing the Haruno family. Underneath were dark short spandex so that she could move freely, and unlike the boys and their sensei who wore their forehead hitai-ate on their foreheads, she had hers tied securely on the top of her head like a headband.

The three of them plopped down next to a slow rushing river when Kakashi had suggested that they take a quick break to fuel up and eat lunch.

A low fire started burning over a pile of forest debris. After a few minutes of catching freshwater fish, the group had food being cooked on sticks over the flames, one fish per person. Naruto had whipped out a cookware pot out of seemingly nowhere and when asked he revealed that he was carrying around a storage scroll.

"Yeah," the blond stated matter-of-factly to Sakura as he was in the process of fishing out a plastic cup of instant ramen from said scroll, "My dad's not the only fuuinjutsu specialist in the village. My mom's actually the one who helped him _perfect _his seals." At the awed look he received from his female teammate, he added with a grin, "She's been teaching me some."

The Uchiha pouted and crossed his arms as he tentatively reached out for one of the fish that appeared cooked enough. "Let me guess," he said with a sideways glance towards he best friend, "You wanted to master the storage seal so that you could bring tons of ramen with you on missions."

Naruto scooped clean water from the river into the pot and set it atop the fire, poured the uncooked ramen noodles from the packaging into it, and waited for the contents to boil to the amusement of Kakashi and Sasuke.

The boy huffed after a pause. "You're a jerk, aren't you, Uchiha?"

The raven smirked. "I'm just saying the truth out loud," and he bit into his lunch with a satisfied crunch.

Moments passed in contented silence as the group quietly munched on their fish while Naruto waited for his ramen to be fully cooked. The noodles took some time to become edible enough to eat, which caused the bond to start fidgeting and twiddling his thumbs to the immense enjoyment of Sasuke who was chuckling under his breath.

The Namikaze finally sighed and dug out a metal bowl from his scroll after another controlled pump of chakra. The item popped into existence over the paper and he grabbed it enthusiastically, using a set of travel chopsticks to pick up some of the miso flavored ramen and placed it into his bowl.

"Mm! My favorite kind of food!" he let out with a belch.

"The whole world knows that," teased his friend and the other two laughed at the playful jab.

To Naruto, the ramen was just right, albeit not as amazingly delicious as his mom's or Ichiraku's, but just right in his case. The soup was salty and frothy with a tinge of chicken artificial flavoring, not that he minded. He slurped the noodles up and savored the residual taste on his tongue, all the while ignoring the looks he was getting from his teammates and teacher who were already finishing up their fish or picking their teeth for tidbits of leftover food particles.

A second later, he heard Kakashi slap his hands together in a single loud clap. The three genin snapped to attention the best they could with the exception being Naruto who continued to eat haphazardly.

"Alright pop quiz!" the silver-haired jounin sang as he crinkled his only visible eye into a smile. The three young ones groaned.

The man leaned forward with that annoyingly happy expression covered by his face mask and went on, "What is the political state of the Land of Rice Paddies?" he asked, then he pointed to his students, "Go!"

"The Land of Rice Paddies is a fairly new country that is only about a decade old," quickly responded Sakura with an apt appearance as she set aside the stick she had eaten from, "The country just got out of a civil war between its ninja clans and was finally united under one Daimyo. They currently have no formal allies to speak of because they are still in the process of developing, but because they are neutral, many nations like to trade with them and they allow foreigners in."

Kakashi nodded in approval then lifted dual fingers as if showing them a number two. "Okay. Now what is the status of their ninja village, if any?"

It was the Uchiha who decided to answer this question and he immediately snapped his head up, to the delight of the fan girl on the team. "Because the ninja clans just stopped fighting, their relationships with each other are pretty tentative. Rice Paddies has trained shinobi, but no village to keep them together and they are still separated by clan like in the Warring States Era."

"Right," the jounin acknowledged. "Any notable customs we should be aware of?"

"It's rude to wear hoods when you're walking in the middle of any town there because people still get suspicious," Naruto explained between bites from his food. He chewed a few times and tapped a finger on his chin. "Oh and it's bad to refuse food from your host too many times…"

"Correct," sighed Kakashi, "though I don't know if the last one was necessary…"

Sasuke smirked and jabbed a thumb in the direction of his childhood friend. "This idiot here only thinks clearly with his stomach."

"Lame, Uchiha," whined Naruto and Sakura only giggled beside them, happy in simply observing the boys perform their antics.

Shaking his head, the teacher just let the boys banter back and forth. He observed them as he took a few steps over to the river in order to refill his canteen with a refreshing batch of water before the man finally came back and patted the friends on the heads and grinned widely behind his mask and letting them know that break time was over, to clean up, and then follow him because they would get the mission going.

Nonetheless, it took the team another good hour before they finally reached the border checkpoint. When they did, it was standard protocol.

A particularly fat ninja with the crest of some Rice Paddy Clan on his shoulder halted the team at a wire fence that had what looked to be a small somewhat-livable building attached to it. He lazily asked them for their IDs and papers, as well as for their reason for entrance into the foreign country.

"Kakashi Hatake," the teacher droned out before any of his students could say a word, "Registration number 009720, and jounin of the Village Hidden in the Leaves. My genin team and I have been assigned a C-rank escort mission from Mie to Saga for the Ueda Family trade group."

Nodding, the man gestured over to the three preteens and they stated their names and ID numbers as well. Naruto refrained from using his last name and instead offered only his first name. Luckily the shinobi did not notice and Kakashi was grateful that the boy did not forget to practice extra precaution. Though it would not be entirely out of line to state his surname considering that they were in neutral territory, the name Namikaze in and of itself was an infamous one. They did not need to add any more attention to their team, especially with the Copy Ninja and an Uchiha already on board.

So after successfully passing border patrol, the team made their way to the village of Mie which they reached in record time as it was not far from the border itself. Kakashi was happy with the pace they had and noted that according to the position of the sun it was only about 1400 hours (2) in the afternoon.

The sun was relatively high in the sky and carriages were bring drawn by water buffalo that waded through the crowds lazily. Other water buffalo were being guided through the assorted rice fields that dotted the edges of town as numerous fish swam around their legs and in between the rice stalks. A pair of civilian school girls in uniforms that consisted of gray drab jumper-dresses and a collared white blouse underneath passed by Team Seven and giggled at the sight of the boys, an action to which Sakura was very displeased with.

Unbeknownst to the girls, both Naruto and Sasuke had spotted the imposing building labeled _The Ueda Family Merchant House_ in golden kanji to offset the purple tiled roof. They sped by them and the school girls screeched as their gray dresses flipped up and a few people caught a glimpse of their underwear.

The gigantic merchant house was the largest building on the block, completely eclipsing the tiny homes and shops with their thatched roofs and purely wooden exteriors with the occasional concrete. The roads were dusty and barrels of either water, rice wine, or sacks of rice grains were being carried throughout the streets.

"Here we are," Kakashi stated matter-of-factly.

They opened the imposing mahogany doors and a blast of cool air hit them in the face. Inside was a fairly nice lobby with shiny red tiles and handcrafted furniture, if not for all the boxes and containers that were stacked throughout the place.

A fat man with a virtually bald head and graying leftover sideburns was directing workers everywhere and leading them to an extravagant bunch of carts somewhere in the front of the building. His silky robes flapped about him like a bird's wings would and he had a very pointed beard that vaguely reminded the team of a sheepdog.

Two others were not working at all. They looked to be their client's sons that were on file. One was tall and lanky with a pair of oval glasses propped on his crooked nose and a mop of dark hair and dark eyes. He was playing with what looked to be a finger trap contraption and he had a self-important look to his posture. The teenager to his left was short and stout with spiked brown hair and eyes that had a displeased glare to them. They both wore equally as expensive looking robes as their father did.

Naruto glanced over to Kakashi and nodded. They had both deduced the same things from observing their clients and from what was on their files: Ichiro Ueda was a haughty know-it-all teenager who had to be at least eighteen, while his brother, Jiro Ueda, was a seventeen-year-old and a cynical and quiet guy who was probably shaped with the idea that he would not directly inherit the family line in lieu of his older brother.

"Welcome, welcome," boomed the overly happy voice of the Ueda head. His large belly bounced up and down as he noticed the shinobi. He had outstretched arms as he sauntered over to the group. "We're so glad to have you here, of course, of course. With the bandits coming around for us, of course."

Naruto watched as Sasuke's eyebrows twitched at the verbal tick.

"_Of course_," drawled Kakashi sarcastically, much to the amusement of his students who snickered in the background. Not that the man noticed.

"Well then, we're almost loaded and we already had lunch, of course," continued their client. "We always leave in the afternoon. My boys absolutely _despise_ having to wake up early, as you know."

"A shame, really," added the Hatake.

The large man explained that the money had been sent to the Hokage and that the shinobi would be paid after the mission was completed with a C-rank pay. Team Seven was already aware of this, however. It was generally how most mission protocols worked out, with a few exceptions here and there. They simply indulged him in his clarification.

Soon, the caravan was ready to embark on their two day journey.

"Good luck, my boys!" bellowed the Ueda patriarch. "You'll do well, of course."

The glasses-wearing teen briefly acknowledged his parent with a head tilt and said, "You really should stop doting on us, father. It really does get irritating at times. Perhaps you should rely on our servants to carry your boxes instead of your educated and proper children."

"Yeah, yeah whatever father," snapped Jiro who was the shorter brother. "We'll write when we get attacked by bandits along the way."

Naruto and Sasuke shared a quick glance with one another and an unspoken message was shared between the two friends: the mission was undoubtedly going to be a _long _one. If they were annoyed by the merchant family now, they could not imagine how it was going to turn out much later when they were already hours into it. As they knew Shikamaru would say…_what a drag._

And so they went on with the hot summer sun baking their backs as if they were supposed to be rising bread dough in an oven. They easily exited the gates of Mie with their long trail of carts and horses following behind and both Ichiro and Jiro Ueda were sitting with bored looks on their faces inside carriages. Ichiro was fanning himself was a hand-painted paper fan decorated with ferocious tigers and his sibling simply glowered in his own horse-drawn carriage.

All in all, Naruto deeply felt that the two had sticks so far up their asses that they must have been poking out through their frontal lobes (3) which may have caused severely negative effects on their personalities…not that he would say anything out loud without getting in trouble. He just knew that his team wanted to say it though.

The blond almost felt bad for the poor servants. They were sweating and huffing with absolutely no complaint and they even had to deal with the endless complaints from the two brothers without showing distress themselves. At least, he hoped, they were getting paid in decent figures. There was no way he could be bribed enough ryo in the universe to work for those fellows.

But wait. Naruto groaned in his head. He already _was _working for them.

With that grim thought in mind, he shoved his hands in his pockets and moped, earning a questioning eye from both Sasuke and Sakura.

Much of the trip continued in a similar vein. The heat was incredibly sweltering, the wheels on which their carts and merchandise sat swayed in a seemingly rhythmic pattern, and it seemed that for all intents and purposes that a thickening, figurative, misty cloud had been created out of the horrid humidity and descended upon their bones.

Amidst the weather were the continuous complaints from the Ueda brothers. From Ichiro's whining about the uncomfortable rocking of his personal carriage, to Jiro's moaning about how pointless it all was for "daddy dearest" to hire a pack of trained shinobi from Konoha because there were probably all going to die alone in a ditch anyway.

Naruto was prepared for his irritation to escape from him via spontaneous combustion. He even thought that he would ask Kakashi-sensei to put out the flames with some sort of water jutsu.

"I think we should stop here for the night," Kakashi spoke lazily when the sun had barely peeked out beyond the horizon. A crimson orange sunset bathed the Land of Rice Paddies in its minimal light.

The taller Ueda, Ichiro, stuck his head out of the window in his carriage. "Oh I was not aware that an uncouth ninja such as you could _think_," he sneered. "Honestly you'd think we're all a circus band with your funny outerwear."

Naruto started to lunge at the older brother with a snarl on his face, "Hey you can't just—"

Fortunately enough, Kakashi was able to stop the kid before he did anything too rash and the man continued, saying, "What Naruto was _trying _to say is that he agrees with me. The area is getting darker and it would be best for all of us if we rested here and made camp so that we could travel in the morning."

The silver-haired shinobi then promptly clamped a hand over Naruto's mouth, much to the boy's immense displeasure.

With a huff, Ichiro ordered his servants to carry him out of the cozy confines of his travelling coach. The men scrambled to please him; one even went so far as to collapse upon his knees and bend forward so that his back was exposed and the teen stepped onto the poor gentleman without so much as a word right before his pristine shoes touched the surface of the dirt road.

Much to the dismay of his older brother, Jiro got out by himself. Though both did not bother to assist the shinobi and the other workers when it came to unpacking and setting up a temporary camp.

Kakashi then commanded Naruto to be their lookout while he, Sasuke, and Sakura helped to put out tents and sleeping bags. The lone female on the team did not hesitate to squeal in delight at the prospect of working with her beloved Sasuke-kun and the Uchiha in question sent a withering, jealous look over to his best friend.

The sun steadily dipped behind the image of the rice fields just as Naruto heeded orders and hopped onto the roof of one of the fabric covered wagons. He crouched and enhanced his hearing and sight with chakra, azure irises scanning the surroundings without pause.

It just so happened that the wagon he had chosen as his designated perch was the very same wagon that the Ueda brothers had decided to sit underneath so that they could find solace in the shade it gave.

Ichiro looked like he was writing a set of notes in a travel journal. He fiddled with his glasses occasionally. "_Fantastic_," he said loudly, "Those lowly shinobi really are unaware of the intricacies of properly unloading packed items. Jiro," he added in the direction of his sibling, "just look at how roughly that jounin takes them out of our wagons."

"That's probably because he's used to unpacking bodies," growled Jiro. "This is pointless. I don't care if that guy's a jounin or whatever...those kids are genin. How are a bunch of dimwitted runts supposed to protect us? Father and that Hokage must have lost their minds." He frowned as he stared at the pink hair of Sakura. "Plus we have that idiot girl and those two snot-nosed boys. I can't believe a man like the Fourth allowed them in. The Hokage sounds like a moron to me."

Naruto pursed his lips. He did _not _appreciate the rude commentary especially since he was right where he could hear them so clearly. So he inadvertently decided to speak up.

"I can hear you, ya know," said the blond.

The sound caused the two brothers to look up in surprise. They craned their necks to see Naruto's face staring back down at them from the top of the coach.

When the boy realized that he had accidentally spoken his thoughts out loud, he groaned. "It's not nice to talk crap about the people trying to protect you."

His eyes moved to the book that currently resided in the older Ueda's lap and with a sudden start, Naruto finally saw that the notebook Ichiro was writing in was not a travel journal, but rather a _complaint _journal. There were phrases written in bullet form:

_-Incompetent guards.  
>-Atrocious unpacking skills.<br>-Lacking in needed finesse._

The further his eyes read the various scribbles, an even bigger headache began to throb at his temples. The annoyance started to build up to a point that he felt like a pot was about to boil over in his brain.

"It's not your job to eavesdrop," the elder brother spat importantly.

"It _is _my job to eavesdrop," replied Naurto as he puffed out his chest proudly, "I'm a shinobi."

"Not on your clients, obviously," pointed out Ichiro with a flare of his glasses lenses.

The boy leaped off of the top of his post and landed neatly next to the two brothers. A puff of dust floated up in a tiny cloud as his sandals scraped the ground. The older Ueda brother crinkled his nose in disgust.

"Keep your—"

"Look," interrupted Naruto, "Your dad spent money to keep you guys safe. He trusts you to go on this trip without him and he trusts us to protect you from bandits." He narrowed his eyes to emphasize his point, then continued, "So you keep to your business, and we'll keep to our business...

"And I don't appreciate you insulting our Hokage, ya know."

They did not exchange words soon after that, at least for a few hours, and Naruto had promptly switched places so that he could watch over the camp during the first shift without any unnecessary distractions until it was time for him to go to sleep and for Kakashi to go next.

And finally in the morning, the caravan left their clearing for the last day of travel to the village of Saga, until they arrived in the very late afternoon.

The village was situated on top of a great hill and had buildings sprawled throughout it so that it looked like a giant had sprinkled them on a gargantuan cupcake. The roofs of all of them were of varying shades and ranged in all kinds of sizes.

A stone wall enclosed the village and a lookout tower hovered nearby and was manned by a ninja of yet another Rice Paddies Clan.

By the time the travelling group entered Saga's grounds, they already had been checked and searched. The shinobi from Konoha had noticed that Saga was much grander than Mie and seemed to be dominated by a ninja clan called the Tsukino (4).

Members of said clan bore dark blue circles with a singular white stamp in the middle of it on their clothing. Many active ninja were wearing uniforms that resembled the gray vests and black pants of the Cloud Village, but they deviated from the design with many of the purple motifs added on like the sandals were.

Instead of the dusty roads that seemed to snake around Mie, Saga had significantly more paved streets. People along with the Tsukino shinobi walked around on them and mingled with each other. The stores were cleaner and the people looked happier.

It was with this observation in mind that Naruto realized that this was probably because Saga was largely controlled by a huge clan of ninja. The people must have felt more, and as a result the air permeated a greater taste of security as compared to the portion of the Land of Rice Paddies that Team Seven had passed through. It especially helped that since the country was still fresh from a civil war, the village gained a sense of stability to be united under one clan rather than multiple fighting ones.

If one did not know better, one could even say that Saga looked to be the humble beginnings of a hidden village.

Though in the middle of it all there was more than a handful of people that were acting strangely with their eyes shifting every so often, like they were worried about something that would not appear and that was most definitely not there. Naruto and Sasuke raised their eyebrows at this, exchanged looks with their two other teammates, and they all determined how odd that was without saying a word.

"This is our stop," one of the servants informed the travelers, and the caravan plus shinobi halted in front of a large warehouse behind a store labeled _Trader Jin's_.

The place was a gigantic supermarket exclusively for traded goods. Apparently, the Ueda Merchant House had a contract with them and was delivering their orders of rice cakes and rice sacks in exchange for money.

The husband and wife that ran the store were overly enthusiastic to learn that their delivery had come safely. They complained that there had been a lot of attacks on the roads lately and no one knew why. People assumed that it was bandits because something was always missing from the travelling party and it was usually food or money. But sometimes, they said with overly serious faces, a person would go missing.

It was a daunting thought, especially because people were involved, but they also reassured them that it was normally people wandering around the outskirts of Saga late at night. With this and the combination of the missing goods from select caravans, merchants had been terrified to go anywhere near Saga and _Trader Jin's _had been receiving defective goods for months.

That explained the strangeness of some of the population.

"Sounds like a case of serial kidnappings," intoned Kakashi with a seemingly bored façade. "I'm sure the Tsukino Clan can handle it."

"But the thing is, they _haven't _taken care of it," replied the wife hotly.

The husband patted the woman on her back. "Now, now dear. None of those conspiracy theories you've been spewing about for weeks. The attacks have been getting less, haven't they? I'm sure what they say about supernatural wild dogs assaulting people can't be true. It sounds ridiculous."

"How can you say that?!" the lady bellowed, her hands on her hips now. "Over thirty people are _gone_ and all you can say is—"

"—_thank you, _shinobi-san," butted in her spouse as he ignored her ranting, "for bringing these fine rice cakes over to us safely."

And that was the end of it. The Ueda brothers were given a heap of golden coins for their trouble and were hastily brushed aside. The shop was closed for the day with a heavy slam of the door. Ichiro wailed about how rude it all was and Jiro grumbled about the increased probability that they would each die gruesome deaths without the prospect of any outside assistance.

After The brothers began complaining about upset stomachs and how they really should eat lunch, no matter how late it would be, the group decided on eating.

The group minus the servants who wandered off on a break, stopped at a restaurant. The sun was still peeking out over the hill in the afternoon and all thoughts of the strange story that the couple at _Trader Jin's _had shared fled from their minds.

Previously they searched for a decent place to eat and people on the streets highly recommended a place known as the Full Moon Diner and they were able to locate it fairly easily.

The place was renowned throughout the village and apparently throughout the Land of Rice Paddies for cooking up the best meat pies which were uncreatively titled "Full Moon Pies." Despite their formerly disgusting demeanors, the Ueda brothers were surprisingly pleasantly delighted to enter the restaurant, though that could be attributed to the fact that many of the higher echelon of their nation and many of their other snobby peers had also eaten at the place as Ichiro had informed them time and again.

Full Moon Diner was run by a faction of the Tuskino Clan and was by all means a family restaurant. It looked like the majority of the people that worked there had the customary Tsukino crest somewhere on their clothing.

Inside the restaurant it was dimly lit and every table had three neatly placed candles atop them that had small flickering flames, as well as pristine dark blue tablecloths. The floor was made of wood panels and waiters and waitresses made them creak as they stepped on them. Almost every single spot was occupied with a customer.

In one of the corners a dark haired woman was sitting on a low stool that had an elevated platform in front of it. On top of this platform rested a koto (5), an elongated hollow wooden instrument that had thirteen strings on it. Her fingers moved gracefully across them, and although some could say that the music was beautiful, Naruto thought that it sounded somewhat foreboding as each string was plucked, like there was something waiting behind a door somewhere he could not see.

The five of them were directed to a long rectangular table on a far wall and a lady walked up to them with a smile on her face.

"My name is Chiya Tsukino," said the woman with a smile. She had long, black, and flowing hair that reached far past her mid back. Her eyes were gray and sparkled knowingly, and if Naruto had to say so himself, she have a very beautiful figure that exuded calm and tranquility. She appeared young, like she was only in her mid-twenties. Her face was round and heart-shaped and just under her left eye was a tiny mole.

"I'm the owner of this restaurant," she continued. "I am very pleased that you are here and," she pointedly looked at Team Seven who sat nearest to each other, "I see we even have foreigners gathered at our humble diner." She raised an eyebrow at them. "Would you fine guests require a drink before you order?"

"Yes," replied Ichiro with another one of his haughty smirks, "I'll have jasmine tea."

"Sake," ordered Jiro immediately without as much as a second thought. Naruto grumbled to himself about what a drag it would be to heave a drunk guy on the streets in the middle of a weekday afternoon. The rest of Team Seven simply asked for water.

The drinks barely arrived when Jiro was already asking for more rice wine. Naruto sank into his seat further and Sakura was staring at him and giggling. It was then that they were prepared to order and all five of them requested for the infamous Full Moon Pie. If they were going to make it all the way in the middle of Saga, they might as well get something memorable for it.

Minutes later, five sets of the meat pie came in simultaneously. A waiter set them one-by-one in front of them, almost like each pie was so delicate that it could crumble with an instant. Naruto grinned and stared at his portion.

The pie was a little smaller than his head, circular, and steaming hot. Its crust was yellowish-brown and looked delectable and crispy. The middle was caved a bit and the dent was filled with a scoop of white jasmine rice and an egg was cracked on top of that.

Naruto's mouth was watering profusely and he did not hesitate to dig in with the long-handled spoon he was given. As the team and the Uedas ate, the sound of the koto in the background seemed to dissolve in the background. With each pluck of its string, another bite was taken, and the late lunch went on. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the amazing meat pies, though Jiro constantly asked for more and more sake.

It was no surprise that Jiro had gotten piss drunk by the time they were all finished. Ichiro vehemently refused to go anywhere near his younger sibling and so thus all the carrying and dragging went to Team Seven, much to the immense displease of, well, _all of them_.

Jiro ran into a wall all by himself and the group was hard pressed to leave the restaurant and get back on the streets, not that it helped much. They still had a handful of hours of deliveries to do.

"HAH," mumbled the drunk Ueda loudly, "…look at 'dat dumb ass bitch!" He swayed from side to side and Sakura barely caught him with her shoulder and let out a displeased growl.

"Don't call me that!" snarled the pink-haired female. "That's rude."

"…wasn' talkin' to you," garbled Jiro in reply. He pointed a finger to someone's pet that just passed by them. "…talkin' to 'da dog."

The team laughed and the boys joked about how it was hilarious how Sakura had assumed that the aforementioned bitch was her. They laughed even harder when her face turned into a deep crimson and she started sputtering sentences that were no doubt defending her being but ultimately failing. In the whole process, Jiro stumbled along and chuckled drunkenly at random things and people that sped along.

And so for the rest of the remaining daylight hours they delivered their goods to various stores around the huge and spread out village until all carts were empty save for their own personal items. In no time, the first and arguably the most tedious part of the mission was completed. All that was left was for the team to escort their clients back home safely to Mie, preferably when dawn broke out. But knowing the extremely laid back and spoiled brothers, they most likely would not be leaving till the afternoon the next day. They had simply gotten lucky that day when they left camp relatively early.

All in all, the mission was going smoothly so far, except for the fact that they had to slog around a completely wasted individual. They had not had any significant delays and they had somehow avoided being ambushed by enemy bandits. Though if the genin had to be honest with themselves, they were pretty bored with how things were going. Kakashi seemed happy enough in comparison.

Naruto was munching on a rice cake when the group finally settled in at a hotel for the night. They were about to walk in when he suddenly jumped when something twitched in the bushes. A pair of yellow eyes peeked out at him, attached to a small, harmless snake that was roughly the size of his forearm. He stared at its eyes like he was in a semi-trance, like the reptile was reading his soul.

The blond remained like that for seconds until he perked up at the sound of a voice calling his name. The snake then slithered away almost instantaneously.

Shaking his hair out of his eyes, Naruto followed his team inside. Fortunately, the hotel they were all staying at was very nice. Unfortunately, the Ueda patriarch had not paid for it and the money had come straight out of their paycheck, and as if that was not bad enough, they had to room right next to the Uedas.

"This bites," the Namikaze groaned when he sat on his futon.

"Just be glad that this thing is almost over," replied Sasuke who was on the futon opposite from him. Kakashi was moving around on his own and giggling furiously at the Icha Icha book he brought along. Sakura was in another half of the room, separated from the boys by a sliding wood and paper door. "I just want to go back to Konoha now. I don't know if I can stand doting around these guys any longer."

"Tell me about it."

Sasuke grunted and reluctantly turned over in his mattress, shifting into the most comfortable position possible. "Well we better sleep while we can. Kakashi-sensei said he'll take first watch anyway." To this comment, said teacher only seemed to giggle louder and both boys sighed in frustration.

"Yeah. See you in the morning, Uchiha."

Naruto flipped over on his side as well and closed his eyes. The full moon shone brightly through the windowpane and the stars twinkled in the black blanket that was the night sky. In the distance, something howled ominously and its sound reverberated in the air.

**Coming up next…**

**Chapter Six: Blue Moon Rising Part III (Cursed Howling)**

_**Team Seven faces a bizarre and unforeseen enemy, and what does the fox mean when it says that Naruto is trapped in a loop…?**_

**Answers to questions that you might have been wanting to ask…**

(1)_ Ueda _is a Japanese last name that comes from the words "high" and "rice paddy." I thought that the rice paddy portion was adequate and a nice nod to the Land of Rice Paddies region in which most of this chapter takes place.

(2) _1400 hours _refers to 14:00, to those who do not go by the 24-hour clock, otherwise known as military time. I can't say I go by the 24-hour clock either, but for all intents and purposes of the story, all stated times, if any, will be in this format.

(3) _Frontal lobes _refer to the frontal lobe of the brain. It controls personality, emotion, memory, and a range of higher thinking. It is located at the front of the cerebral cortex and is anterior to the parietal lobe as well as superior and anterior to the temporal lobes.

(4) _Tsukino _is a surname that means "moon field." In regards to this chapter, this is obviously relevant.

(5) A Japanese _koto _is a traditional Japanese stringed musical instrument, similar to the Chinese zheng, the Mongolian yatga, the Korean gayageum and the Vietnamese đàn tranh. Koto are about 180 centimeters in length, and made from kiri wood. They have 13 strings that are strung over 13 movable bridges along the width of the instrument. Players can adjust the string pitches by moving the white bridges in the picture before playing, and use three finger picks (on thumb, index finger, and middle finger) to pluck the strings.


	9. Blue Moon Rising Part III

**AN: Kind of a little off schedule, but I still got it updated kind of a week later…barely! YES! Also, this chapter is a bit more disturbing than previous ones in terms of concept, so this is the fair warning! There are also a lot of parallels in this chapter to the original, which I assure you were intentional for a reason. (Wink wink.) **

**The next updates will start being every other week towards Mondays unless I randomly decide to update early. This is because of my update schedule and the fact that I am getting ready to post another multi-chapter fic called "The Eye of the Storm". This fic will be updated the weeks that I do not update that one, or sometimes if you're lucky, both will be updated in the same week.**

**For some shameless advertisement, here is the description of my upcoming fic, which is Naruto by the ****way: **_The Kyuubi was never resealed after Mito Uzumaki died and had not been seen in decades. The Third Shinobi War never ended and the Third Hokage sacrificed his life for it, resulting in Minato becoming the Hokage in the middle of war. In the midst of it all, Naruto and his peers grow up and enemies are at the doorstep. AU. _

**Now, on with it and happy reading!**

**Chapter Six:  
>Blue Moon Rising<strong>

"_Does the past define us, or is our future __what__ truly shapes us? We are here for a purpose, and that purpose lies within our present."_

* * *

><p><strong>Part III: Cursed Howling<strong>

Now, one could say that the Tsukino Clan was almost as great as the founding clans of the Land of Fire, but the fact is that they were not.

They had the unfortunate luck that they lived in the Land of Rice Paddies, a small country with a small fry daimyo that was just barely able to unify the warring clans after years of fighting and turmoil. But, if there was any powerful shinobi clans in such an irrelevant nation, it would be the Tsukino Clan. At least they did not act through stupidity by attacking the Village Hidden in the Mist like the Kaguya Clan did.

Unlike most of their enemies, they had a bloodline limit, and a strangely unique one at that.

They were skilled shinobi with the only weaknesses that included that they were small compared to the more powerful clans and arguably did not have the resources to thrive as well.

But even so, even a great lesser clan like the Tsukino had their stories. They even had their conspiracies. So it was no surprise that some members wanted to be better, wanted to feel unlimited like the others from powerful hidden villages.

The people of Saga that the Tsukino protected were talkers, of course. On one hand they spoke well of their shinobi protectors. They were grateful to them, but some of them were wary. Some of them _knew_.

The wife of Jin from _Trader Jin's _was one of those people. This was because she was good friends with one of the clan. Her friend had whispered to her about the lady at the meat pie restaurant. She heard about how this woman had lost her husband years ago in a battle with another clan. This woman was fine, they said, until she met up with a mysterious man.

They whispered with each other about how the Tsukino suspected that this man was a rogue ninja from a shinobi village, and how powerful he must have been. They talked about how the woman from the restaurant knew that this man was recruiting followers and that he had offered up power in return for loyalty…a power so terribly wonderful that it could bring back her dead husband.

The woman had supposedly questioned if he could really bring back the dead, but in the end, they said that this woman took up the offer greedily, still consumed with her grief, and that she had not been the same since. She was strange, they murmured, odd. She was happy and seemed normal on the surface, but to those who really knew her, it would not matter that she ran such a well-known restaurant.

Before, the place had been a family business with her husband after all.

Who really knew?

But then again, the wife at _Trader Jin's _claimed that these were only whispers.

ooo

_The fox was trapped and growling in its cage as usual. All nine tails were swishing behind it like they were swatting away flies. But somehow, the scene was different. Instead of the all-out malice its eyes held previously, something was _changed _about the way it looked at Naruto as the boy stared right back up at him._

"_I know you," Naruto murmured to the great being._

"_Yes you do," replied the fox with a pounding tone. "As you should."_

"_What do you want now?" asked the blond with crinkle in his brow._

_One of the Kyuubi's paws rested atop the golden water amidst the sewage-like surroundings. It tilted its head like it was contemplating something. "I know you are not afraid of me. I have known it for a long time," the voice boomed outwardly, "but that does not change the fact that you are my container and I am the contained. So I will warn you once again," and the gigantic chakra construct bored red eyes into Naruto's azure ones._

"_You _must_ get out of this loop _(1)_. The longer you remain here, the further back you will return in your real timeline once you leave. I do not know the way; you must figure out the answer for yourself. I was able to slow it down when you were sucked in, but it won't hold on forever. I can tell you that it is impossible to change—"_

"—ruto! Naruto! Get up!"

The genin in question opened his eyes in confusion. He saw the frantic look of his Kakashi-nii-san, his sensei. The odd dream still lingered on in his mind, but he did not know what it meant. However, something strange tingled in his gut, like his body knew what the cryptic message about a loop meant, but his thoughts could not quite catch up. But he did not have any more time to think.

"What?" Naruto let out sleepily.

Kakashi shook his head. "I need you to wake Sasuke and Sakura," then the jounin gave him a serious look, "We have a problem."

At that notion, Naruto was on his feet in an instant. The ingrained reflexes within his muscles were giving him that telltale adrenaline rush. His eyes became super focused and his vision grew sharper, so he briefly acknowledged his teacher when he sprinted off to his task.

The Namikaze turned to his sleeping comrade and quickly shook him awake. At the concentrated look in his eye, Sasuke too recognized a serious situation when he saw one. Luckily, they both were already in their shinobi attire, as any good ninja should be on a mission, and only needed to pick up some of their supplies.

The boys went to the next half of the hotel room and slid the door open only to find that Sakura had awoken to the noise. The trio nodded at each other and Naruto led them out to follow their teacher into the hotel hallway.

"I'm a shadow clone," the Kakashi that they had trailed to the entrance of the Ueda brothers' room said. He instructed Naruto to make another clone to guard Ichiro who was still fast asleep, and for Sakura and Sasuke to remain behind to assist it.

Sasuke would not stand for this, however. He started to protest.

"No," the silver-haired Hatake commanded. "You and Sakura _will _stay here to balance out the teams as well as possible. You know as well as I do that both Naruto and I are the only ones here that can perform any kind of fuuinjutsu. I will need his help."

"'Need his help'? Why? What's going on?" the Uchiha demanded, "And where's Jiro?"

"_That's _our problem," Kakashi explained calmly. "I went to follow him out because he wandered off on his own. I tried to bring him back, but then I noticed something strange about him. It's like he's in a trance. He doesn't respond to anything and keeps walking to some unknown destination. But that's not the only oddity," and his single dark visible eye sharpened, "His mouth is slightly open and there is a seal on his tongue that I have never seen before. I think he is being controlled."

Sakura gasped, a hand flying to cover her mouth. "But…how could something like that happen?!"

"I don't know," the man added, "I will lead Naruto to the main Kakashi and they will try to break the seal." He gestured to the trio and briefly looked them all in the eye. It felt like they were being scrutinized. "There is a chance that this mission is going to go over your heads. If that is the case I want you, the client, and the four servants to get out of here and head in the direction of Mie, no questions asked. Naruto and my counterpart will be right behind you and hopefully we will have called for reinforcements via one of the transport message tubes that the Hokage gave me. We will rendezvous about five kilometers from Saga on the Oda main road. We'll figure it out from there."

"But how will we know if the mission is too much?" asked the girl on the team.

"If Naruto's clone pops, you'll know," was the reply from the teacher, "and then I want you to get out of here. Got it?"

The trio nodded in response, though Sasuke still looked like he wanted to contest the order. He did not only because it was the best course of action and it would not do to make stupid moves in a potentially dangerous situation. Otherwise, things would turn out to be a disaster.

Kakashi handed Sasuke one of the messenger tubes that he had in his weapons pouch. "Use this if you need to give a message to the Hokage," he said seriously, "There's a paper inside. Write on it and put it back inside the tube. Use your chakra to activate it and the message should transport directly to the Tower using a space-time seal. Keep it short though. The tube is limited to the length of messages it can teleport."

With that communicated, Team Seven split ways.

Ichiro was being watched by Sasuke, Sakura, and the Naruto shadow clone as he slept. The real Naruto followed the doppelganger Kakashi to the outside of the hotel.

They silently tip-toed down the stairs without a sound and disappeared out the first floor lobby window and the wind whispered across their forms.

The clone led Naruto to the back of the building they had just exited. They pressed their backs up against the wall, their shadows drowned out by the strange white brightness of the full moon. It glowed like no other with an odd orange-like ring. It was at that very moment that Naruto realized that the nighttime sky was hazy and…hadn't there already been a full moon that month?

The thought was chased out of his head as soon as the Kakashi-look-alike moved his hand to gesture to follow him to a path that winded to the edge of the wall of Saga. When he saw this a sinking feeling rested in his gut, like a stone that had dropped to the bottom of a nameless ocean; they were leaving the village.

Without much trouble at all, the two Konoha shinobi were able to slip out through a small door on the barrier. This greatly confused Naruto. It should not have been that easy. It was almost as if the Tsukino Clan was conveniently not watching the wall at that very moment.

So, what the heck was going on?

They continued into the forest at the base of the hill the village laid on. The night seemed more gloomy than usual and the further down they walked, it only got worse. That is, until the Kakashi clone guided Naruto to hide behind a particular bush. The older man nodded at Naruto and they skillfully hid. It was quiet for a moment, then there came the soft sound of footsteps.

In the moonlight, a dark figure emerged. Its feet made a soft _plunk-plunk_ noise, and the tension in Naruto's arteries began to rise, like his heart was preparing itself for a coronary.

The figure finally was fully lit and appeared behind a copse of trees. It turned out to be a young, bulky man with dark hair and...

"Jiro," whispered the clone beside the boy. "Don't move," he added with a look towards the blond.

Just as the teacher mentioned before, the younger Ueda brother was walking in a daze. His eyes were completely blank and his jaw was basically lolling open. His arms were swinging lazily at his side in a strange rhythmic motion that seemed more like two pendulums than a pair of limbs. Perhaps the oddest phenomenon with the whole scenario was that he walked as if he was about to fall and stumble, and he did not stop; he stayed in the same pace.

Seconds later a _swish_ was heard and the real Kakashi suddenly made an appearance on the other side of Naruto. The man made a signal and nodded and the clone puffed away.

As if he had always been there, the teacher calmly asked, "Do you see the seal?"

Naruto bobbed his head to mean 'yes.'

"What can you tell me about it?" questioned Kakashi.

The Namikaze shrugged. His eyes were focused on the task before him, but his fingers fumbled with his weapons pouch. "Not much. I'm only a beginner. Mom started teaching me just two years ago."

Nevertheless, the man leaned forward and gestured to continue anyway.

Naruto's lips pursed. "I can tell you that it's a complicated piece of crap. It's not like anything I've seen before," then he scratched his head and whispered, "but it's strange. The way the seal is put on makes it look like someone put it there indirectly, like they made the poor guy paint it on himself or…" His blue eyes lit up and Kakashi immediately knew that the boy was on to something.

"What?" the jounin furthered with an intense gaze and with urgency. Their target was slowly drifting away. "What is it?"

"They spiked his drink with liquid fuuijutsu," replied the student. "I know it doesn't make any sense, but mom always says that you can see how a seal was made if you look at the form, and that weird thing is shaped like a water-based seal. It's the only thing I got."

Kakashi's eyes intensified at the realization. "So to destroy it we probably need to counter it with another liquid…"

Naruto groaned and placed his hands on his head. "You gotta be kidding me. We have to make a zombie drink something. Just our night."

It turned out that the situation was more dubious than they originally thought. Not knowing how to counter a seal neither male had ever laid eyes on before, they needed to examine it closely. Immediately, both shinobi noticed the problem at hand. They looked at each other quickly, and in an unspoken agreement they stalked Jiro, specialized wire in hand.

Kakashi had the lead and they crouched in the forest, waiting for the right moment. Finally, he prepped the wire in his palms, gesturing to his team member to prepare for a possible struggle, and the duo saw Jiro walk out into a clearing at the base of Saga's hill.

The trees were more spread out from the thinning forest. The path became clearer and less dusty. The nighttime wind rustled the grass towards the middle, making an ominous ripple in the center of the circular glade. And there was Jiro, right in the ripple, like a statue. He had suddenly stopped moving, but Naruto and Kakashi did not think anything of it.

As a single unit, the duo surged forward. The Ueda did not see what was coming, not that he was particularly paying attention to his surroundings. Then he tipped over without a sound, which was bizarre enough, and there was absolutely no struggle. Kakashi had no trouble wrapping up their client in wire, though the teenager was still very much awake. Naruto observed, puzzled, as he opened up Jiro's mouth a little further to study the mysterious seal.

As soon as he saw it at a closer proximity, he gasped and his eyes widened in horror. "Kakashi-sensei…this seal…it's…"

A growling noise reverberated in the air. The two shinobi stopped all movement right away, frozen in their respective tasks.

The debris from leaves and fallen branches on the ground sounded like they were being crunched under foot, but the sound was different. It did not have the same weight to it, like something else was pushing the earth. When Naruto finally mustered enough courage to look up from the oval-shaped tongue seal, he moved his head up with wide eyes.

There before them was a pack of enormous dogs, at least six or seven of them in all. They were so large that they would be taller than Kakashi standing if they went up on two legs; it was almost wholly abnormal. Their fur stood on end, as if in anticipation for something, and they were pitch black. Their eyes glowed yellow in the evening and their canines stuck out of their maws, razor sharp like knives.

Paws scraped at the grass and the growls heightened in frequency. In the midst of it all, Jiro remained ominously still and his eyes remained blank as he breathed in his trance.

Another movement stirred in the background and behind the animal pack were humanoid creatures. There were four of them, snarling just like the dogs. But there was something far more unnatural about them.

"We need to get out of here," Kakashi-sensei whispered urgently. His hand was slowly inching towards one of his kunai.

The creatures behind the pack stalked closer as if on edge, waiting for something. The four strangest ones were crouching, triangular ears pointed atop their head and dark gray fur lining the backs of their hands and human-like hair flaring in the wind. It was then that Naruto noticed that they looked like they _were _half human. They were not on all fours, they were on two legs and leaning forward as if they were about to walk on their hands too. They had scraps of clothing strapped onto them haphazardly with numerous rips and tears.

These were no ordinary animals.

"On the count of three," the jounin spoke quietly, "You and I pick up our client and head back to where we came from."

Naruto agreed silently as soon as it was said.

"One," came the whispered word. Both shinobi were now perfectly propped on their haunches. Naruto's fingers were surprisingly steady as he held onto one of Jiro's limp arms. He was still reeling from the reveal of the seal. It was devastating. How could someone even _think _to use a seal from _that_? Was that not stealing? No, it was worse. This mean that someone out there knew information that they should not.

"Two."

They were gradually standing now, their charge carefully bound and in hand. Their strange onlookers growled deeper.

"Three!" And they turned and sprinted off into the woods, fast like a flash of light.

Their legs pumped and Naruto's muscles burned as he huffed for air. A few seconds passed and they thought they had successfully avoided being overrun by vicious animals, but in less than a moment the hard pounding of paws alerted them to the fact that their enemy was indeed chasing them.

Both Leaf ninja struggled to heave along the client, and Naruto desperately wished that the guy was drunk again because at least he would be stumbling along instead of being simply dead weight. How he had wished that Jiro had drunk a tankard full of sake rather than…_this_.

And then, as he followed his teacher around the trunk of a tree, a thought occurred to him and it felt like a light bulb had just lit up inside his brain.

"The diner!" Naruto exclaimed.

"What? Naruto, just keep going!" replied Kakashi loudly.

"Someone spiked his drink at the diner!"

Kakashi clearly shot him a look that somehow gave the boy the impression that that moment was definitely _not the time to be discussing something like that._ Then, they rounded another trunk, skidding a bit as the beasts nipped at their heels in haste.

Naruto dragged Jiro's unresponsive body by the arm as Kakashi was forced to drop the legs in favor of putting up a mud wall in defense with an earth element technique. "Earth Style: Mud Wall!" bellowed the jounin and with one spurt from the ground it rumbled and was produced fully. Upon the wall were protruding faces of various collared dogs, one of which appeared distinctly like an enraged bulldog.

Picking up on his own instincts, Naruto barely waited for his teacher to catch up as he held up their enemies for all but a handful of seconds. Shuriken flashed outward and Kakashi threw them with true aim at the heads of the pack, some of which jumped away with a twirl.

The man ushered his student forward and they were off again at full pace.

An explosion resounded behind the sprinting ninja and rocks and numerous other artifacts sprinkled their hair. The external force pushed them onto their haunches and when Naruto glanced back, the artificial wall had soundly disintegrated.

"Shit!" the blond shouted when at least two of the hybrid wolf-humans leapt from behind the curtain of smoke. The sound of the others following them was not that distant. "What the hell! How did they do that so fast?!"

It turned out that the few precious seconds that it took for the Leaf shinobi to get up from their knees was detrimental to a successful escape. The animals were unnaturally fast; it was terrifying. It was as if one could blink and in the duration of time it took to blink, the hybrid beasts would already be right in front of your face and drooling for a bite. Unfortunately, that is almost exactly what occurred next.

Naruto yelled when one of their claws was centimeters from scratching off his nose. He pushed himself backward, leaving Jiro's body prone and spread-eagled on top of a pile of dried up leaves in the process, and flipped reflexively until he was at least a few meters away from his attacker.

Huffing, he prepped his hands in the shape of the ram seal and was about to call out the Kage Bunshin Technique when Kakashi unexpectedly appeared before him, holding an arm out as if to halt him from what he was about to do.

For a moment, everything was still. Even the sound of growling canines did not disturb the silence, but then someone started clapping and Naruto finally realized that his teacher had heard something before he did.

When the noise began, the remaining dogs and the humanoid creatures began inching toward Jiro. With a horrifying drop in his gut, Naruto precipitously knew that they were after their client. However, that was not the most startling realization after all.

"How adorable," a woman's voice chimed darkly. As soon as he heard it, the Namikaze decided that he was unquestionably done with everything that had happened already that evening. As if things could get any weirder than it had already gotten. Fate was wholly against him though. "Are you trying to disturb my hunt?" she continued. Neither Naruto nor Kakashi could see her face yet.

The soft and ominous _click-clack _of her shoes hit the forest floor and the full moon gradually enveloped a familiar form in light. And then came out a beautiful woman with long flowing hair and a kind-looking face, a face that did not suit her demeanor at all. The dark locks of her hair billowed in the warm summer breeze, and her full lips curled into a smirk.

Chiya Tsukino finally showed herself.

The circular crest of the Tsukino Clan was sewed onto the sleeve of her plain purple kimono and it shone like a beacon in the shadows. "That's _my _meat that you were trying to take away," she said eerily as she brushed invisible dust off her front, "It's awfully rude to steal, you know."

"Steal?" Naruto shot out incredulously. "You can't _steal _a human being!"

Instead of outright answering the retort, the woman had opted to remain silent and she continued to smile. She made a slight gesture with one of her hands and a humanoid wolf went to bite the back of the clothes of Jiro, a movement that immediately caught Kakashi's attention.

"This man happens to be our client," the jounin stated seriously. His black eyes were shining in concentration.

Chiya flashed the two a glare that could kill with one look. "This man happens to be my prey," she replied harshly. "Now I suggest that you do not interfere with my hunt again or I will have to personally detain you, regardless of your misplaced affiliations," she said with a swift glimpse at their Leaf headbands.

Naruto snarled and he stood up to his full height behind his teacher's still outstretched arm. "Shut up!" he snapped angrily, an infuriated fuel beginning to pump through his system. "How the hell is this guy your prey?! He's an innocent civilian and a client to the Hidden Leaf! Leave him alone and find something else to hunt! We'll be off your back in no time, lady!"

"Naruto," Kakashi warned, and for the moment that placated the genin and he shut his mouth, still visibly fuming as he clenched his fists.

The two shinobi were expecting a heated response, a lashing out, an attack. They were expecting the dogs and the weird creatures to come running after them again with their claws and sharp teeth. Perhaps they thought that a paper bomb would come out at any moment and that they would have to avoid a multitude of weapons, but nothing like what actually happened. Instead of what they thought would most likely ensue, they were met with barely muffled laughter. Painful laughter. Sad laughter. Crazy, _insane _laughter.

Neither male knew what to feel at that moment. The laughs were like wind chimes, high and wistful, but they were also depressing, like the hums were missing something. Then, to counteract the normality of it all, the laughs also sounded like grating on glass—inherently evil.

"I don't forget my customers at Full Moon Diner," The woman informed between chuckles, "so I remember you two. You came for lunch in the afternoon, asking me to serve you our most famous dish," she grinned and the hairs on Naruto's neck stuck up, "Of course I gave it to you.

"But the customers I _never, ever _forget, are the bane of this village's existence," she shrugged her shoulders almost gracefully, like a princess might. "They come to my place and act all self-important, and then they order alcohol, hoping to get drunk…you see, one of those drunkard bastards made a mess of my restaurant one night and I was so upset…my husband and I worked so hard to keep the place going and even after he died…well…" Her expression hardened. "It doesn't matter. I decided from that day on, I could continue my husband's legacy…create a better meat pie than the one that was known throughout the entire continent, and who better to use than the useless scum in existence? Who better to use than the people that this village would be better without anyway?"

Dread sank itself onto the Leaf shinobi's shoulders and Naruto _knew _that this woman was the one that put the sealing spell in Jiro's sake that afternoon. There was no mistaking it. The evidence was all there. She was practically confessing to it!

But he did not like where this was going and he did not think he was prepared for it.

"Every famous dish has a secret ingredient…" Chiya added with a crazed chortle.

Naruto saw as Kakashi's free hand tightly gripped onto a kunai, saw how Jiro still had that clueless and dumb blank façade on his face. He could feel the stares from the yellowed eyes of the vicious dogs around him and the trees seemed to sway toward him, one by one, a silent symphony with a black conductor of night.

And then, "…Mine happens to be human flesh."

The bond's eyes widened in horror and he started to gag. No, he was not ready for something like that after all. He clutched his middle on instinct for support and he wanted so desperately to throw up with forced dry heaves. His stomach churned disapprovingly. Nothing happened, of course, but nothing stopped the alarming terror that wrapped him from the inside out as he realized that he and his entire team had eaten…had eaten…

He saw how even Kakashi's hand was shaking slightly. The jounin was nonetheless as perturbed as he was. _Damn it_, he could not let either Sasuke or Sakura know about this.

He wanted to claw out his insides.

"Pop your clone," Kakashi gasped out. His eyebrows were knit together and Naruto could see that he was attempting to hide his emotions and was having more trouble than usual. Under the circumstances, it seemed understandable. But he did not _want _to understand.

"W—what?" Naruto replied shakily.

"You heard me. Do it!" came the uttered command.

The genin pulled himself together as best as he could, trying to shake out the horrible thoughts from this head, and he signaled the ram sign with his hands again. In quick succession, there was a pump of blue chakra through his arms and he felt the release of his shadow clone in the hotel. The animals bared their teeth in response to the actions and then Kakashi was bursting forward with incredible speed, his arm coming back in preparation for an attack.

"_Chidori!_"bellowed he, and his silver hair whipped around whist being reflected in the white of the moonlight.

Lighting flashed in zigzags, alternating from cerulean to white to green in milliseconds. The Hatake was headed toward the form of Chiya and he would have eliminated her too, if it wasn't for one of the human hybrids that leapt in front of her.

The man-wolf appeared suddenly and Kakashi accidentally pierced through him instead. Blood spurted out like a crimson rainfall and the creature gurgled as his heart was blasted out of his chest and fried. What was left of the organ flew onto the ground behind the woman he was protecting and part of its destroyed ventricles pulsed one last time before it stilled, covered in dirt. The beast landed with a _squelch_ a meter from Chiya with a gaping hole in his chest. Somehow, the fur and claws sunk into his skin and a normal man in Tsukino ninja attire was revealed. His eyes were wide open.

These opponents were _fast._

Kakashi was heavily breathing and the hand that he just used to try and finish off the woman was trembling, as if he remembered a similar event occurring before. But as soon as Naruto thought his sensei was going to lose it, the hand dropped again and Kakashi was back into his normal business mode.

Sometimes, the boy forgot that he used to be an ANBU.

The laughing started again, but this time it was much, much louder. And not a trace of it sounded in the least bit sad.

"This is one thing you should know about the Tsukino Clan," they heard Chiya state matter-of-factly. "We're shape-shifters. We have a bloodline that allows us to transform parts of our bodies into a wolf creature's. But," and at this her face was split into a wide smile, "it is only on the night of a full moon that we can transform fully."

A rip sounded and a tear made itself known on the fabric of the woman's clothing. Her back began to arch high up and her muscles widened. Her chest stuck out further and bulked up too. Fur sprouted up behind her arms and head and her already long mane flared out in anticipation.

"And," she said in a voice that started to sound more guttural than normal.

Her hands popped out of their sockets and her finders spread out. Her nails extended into claws and her eyes turned large and yellow-red. Something swarmed from beneath her robes and a strange set of tomoe swam on her furry skin to sit behind her neck, glowing flat in an orange color. Was it a seal…?

"And," she went on in her two-toned voice, "tonight happens to be a blue moon; the second full moon this month!"

Now before them stood another wolf-like monster. She was more feminine than the others because of the length of her hair and her slightly shorter height, but that did not take away from her terrifying nature. Her fur was gray like the others of the Tsukino Clan, but her eyes and that odd marking on her neck made her all the more intimidating.

Naruto knew that she would be the most dangerous. He did not have to be a ninja to know that.

"Get out of here!" yelled Kakashi. "Head to the rendezvous point!"

The Namikaze was at a loss. Was he just asked to leave his teacher behind?

He was shoved back by a powerful arm, an arm he noticed was attached to the teacher in question. The dogs were more than growling now; they were jumping and leaping at them. The remaining two wolf-creatures lunged at the body of Jiro and quickly heaved him onto their shoulders. Eyes and claws flashed and teeth were bared.

It was then that the singing started and the eerie tenor reverberated in the air like a chill that would not go away. Their opponent was stalking them as a true predator would.

"_Here you are, here you are,  
>I really hope you die,<br>I'll murder you like all the others,  
>And cook you in a pie.<em>

_There you are, there you are,  
>I'll skin you with a knife,<br>Don't worry, it's okay,  
>I'm just going to take your life."<em>

Their eyes were huge. Chiya was singing to them like a madwomen. They hid together for moments, hearing her footsteps crush the earth. Each step felt like a lifeline was being cut repeatedly and Naruto felt a fear that was so foreign to him, it even overshadowed the things he was afraid of before. It was with stark realization that the tune being sung was the very same one that was played at Full Moon Diner by the woman strumming the koto instrument.

The thought did not help matters at all.

The branches they were behind were brushed aside and shredded like confetti and Kakashi called out a technique that produced earth spikes and pulled Naruto with him. That did not seem to faze her, even as they ran through the trees to find Jiro.

"_Don't be scared, don't be scared,  
>I'll always be right here,<br>Don't run away; don't do it,  
>My dogs can smell your fear.<em>

_Here you are, here you are,  
>This song is almost done,<br>I'm really sad but it's alright,  
>In the end you couldn't run."<em>

Laughter sliced the winds and pointed objects that looked suspiciously like claws zoomed at them and they barely dodged as many came spinning and lodged into the barks of trees. A yellowish substance oozed from their tips and Naruto shuddered as he leapt away behind his teacher, noting that they were lucky to avoid that poison.

"_It's goodbye, it's goodbye,  
>I served you in a pie,<br>You tasted very good inside it,  
>And all you did was <em>die."

Their client was suddenly being dragged away more rapidly than previously and Kakashi took after them in hot pursuit and Chiya's laugher rang when she ordered them to make sure that they were not followed anymore, her song ending as she stared at Jiro's body with delight in her expression. The markings on her neck were flaring violently.

Naruto tried to go after them just as he had before, but a few steps in and Kakashi was already pinning him against yet another tree, a wild look in his eyes even as they avoided being found for those few seconds.

"Listen to me, Naruto!" the jounin spoke piercingly and sternly to his student, "This isn't an ordinary mission!" He angrily pointed a finger towards where Jiro had retreated. "We need to split up!"

"But—"

"This isn't the time!" he lashed out swiftly. "You are a _genin_. This mission is already way over your head! Plus, you know exactly _what_ you hold inside you," he made a pointed glare towards Naruto's stomach and the boy cringed, "Not to mention the political backlash it would cause if we lost you on a job that was supposed to be a C-rank! You have to know who you are, Naruto," and at this Kakashi made sure to let the message sink in as he really stared into his pupil's eyes, "No matter what—even if you do want to make a name for yourself—you are _still_ the Hokage's son. Getting you out of here is now part of my duty."

Naruto shook his head passionately. "But Jiro and the seal!"

"I'll take care of it!" was the hasty reply and Kakashi pushed his message tube into Naruto's hand. He explained that since Naruto was already going to run in the other direction, he should call for reinforcements just in case. "Make sure to keep it short! And there's one more piece of paper in there if you need it. Just get out of here and meet with the others."

Before they separated, Naruto remembered his shock at the seal on Jiro's tongue. He needed to relay the information right away, so he looked his teacher in the eye seriously beforehand.

"It's an Uzumaki seal!" hissed the boy, "That means someone from Konoha must have made it! I don't know how, but you've got to let me look at it when you bring him to us!"

They nodded at each other and they sprinted off in opposite directions. Naruto barely had to keep any adversaries off his trail because most of them were trying to fight off Kakashi, but the handful that came after him were luckily the small fry and not actual members of the Tsukino Clan and he was very grateful that he did not hear Chiya coming after him. They were just the dogs that were barking after him, but he spun around and flung paper bombs at them nevertheless.

The smoke belted into existence and the explosion must have killed them. That was what he thought until one came at him that clearly survived.

Naruto kicked upward as soon as it got near to him and hit it in its rib cage. The animal whined in pain and a _crack _signified broken bones. He kneed the animal in the head and right when the limb made contact, the vicious dog was knocked out and still.

He ran through the trees until he was fully out of the forest and about a kilometer away from the hill of Saga. It was then that he decided to take a quick moment to write out a message to the Hokage Tower and send his sensei the needed reinforcements.

He whipped out the tube and a single piece of paper from inside it and the two inch long pencil and wrote: _Reinforcements. Around Saga hill. Rice Paddies._

Then, he pumped his chakra around the tube after he rolled up the paper and stuck it inside, and with a flash the thing had disappeared in reaction to the seal within it, hopefully in the clutches of his father back home or someone else that could help them.

Determination filled his being and he was off yet again to the main road at Oda.

ooo

Being a ninja meant that it took no time at all to reach the distance Naruto was told and to end at the crossroads of their rendezvous point. Minutes later, Sasuke, Sakura, Ichiro, and the servants made themselves known and a wave of relief washed over the blond. His friends were there with him and everyone was safe just as planned.

Ichiro was surprisingly awake and was shaking down to his core. The servants were not so much better. How they got there as fast as they did and especially with pajama-clad civilian cargo, Naruto would never know. Though he suspected that it had something to do with the downright panic that exuded from all of them. He should not have been surprised. After all, the adrenaline rush still flowed like water rapids through his veins.

"Where's Kakashi-sensei?" heaved Sakura as she placed her hands upon her knees and breathed heavily. Sweat was trickling down her brow and she looked worried.

Luckily Sasuke did not look anywhere near as tired as she did.

"And where's my brother?!" bellowed Ichiro as an added plus.

Naruto sighed and glanced over at his best friend. Understanding spread through them as always. "We need to wait for them here," he replied without really answering the question. "They'll come for us and we need to be ready when they do, ya know. Just relax and we'll…" He looked over to his teammates and he noted that both of them, including Sakura, knew what he meant. "…we'll do our job."

"WHAT?! What the hell is that supposed to mean?!" roared Ichiro to Naruto. The boy did not even flinch. "You're supposed to be protecting us!"

"Mr. Ueda!" Sakura reprimanded, but the boys paid it no heed.

Naruto lifted his gaze to the fuming Ueda brother before him. "We _are _protecting you," he said icily. "But in case you haven't noticed, our sensei and your brother have been _attacked_."

The merchant's son stomped in front of Naruto's face and flung his arms out angrily. "Then why aren't you there?!"

"I _was there_! But I was needed here! So shut up and don't move and we'll figure this out!" ranted the Namikaze back.

There was a flash of black and Naruto found that Sasuke's back was towards him. The Uchiha was standing in between both fighting males with a stern expression upon his face. His dark eyes were serious and cold and he had crossed his arms across his chest disapprovingly. He looked first to Naruto and then to Ichiro. The others were in the background staring at them with anxiety.

"Enough arguing," remarked Sasuke. "It won't get us anywhere." And that was that. A silence befell the group and they turned away and ignored each other for the most part.

The civilians sat around in a circle not too far away from Team Seven as the members of said team sat nearest to the wooden sign marked with _Oda Road._

"What's going on?" asked Sasuke and Sakura turned anxious green eyes upon their team member.

Naruto told them everything he could. He said that Jiro was targeted by the woman at the Tsukino Clan restaurant and that she was undoubtedly insane and should be put out of it for all eternity. He mentioned how the dogs attacked he and Kakashi and how the Tsukino were shape-shifting lycanthropes that could change fully in the light of the full moon. He briefly saw Sakura and was reminded of the book she was reading before they set off on their mission about how a blue moon was rare and represented betrayal.

He shuddered at how correct that symbolism was.

Chiya Tsukino needed to go down, and he told them such. But when he was asked exactly _why _Jiro was taken, the blond hesitated and for good reason. He had already agreed to himself that he would not tell his teammates about the special _ingredients_ in the pies that all of them ate. He unconsciously gripped the fabric over his stomach and scowled.

"I don't think you should know," replied Naruto when Sasuke started to prod him for information. Sakura only grew more worried at his resistance.

"And why not?" questioned the raven-haired genin. "It's part of the mission, isn't it? We should know."

The jinchuuriki closed his eyes and bowed his head. Thoughts of the pies and the song and the ominous music of the koto floated in and out of his head. Kakashi's face and his warning popped up and he fingered the sleeves of his jacket, his facial expression solemn.

_It's better to know the truth first than it is to hide it_, he thought to himself. He remembered how it was to figure out that he contained the Kyuubi within him after years of thinking he was simply a normal human being. A quick flash of another dream-like notion hit him, and he thought about how it could have been worse to find out if he had been older because it would make less sense as to why people held it off as he would have had more time to think that he was simply ordinary.

He made the decision. "The pie," Naruto uttered slowly. "Chiya wants to use Jiro as…" He bit his lip in anticipation. He did not dare to look up to see their reactions. "…_ingredients_." When he heard the telltale horrified gasps, he hoped that Ichiro had not heard as well.

He heard Sakura retch particularly loud and she coughed and he did not want to see it. The hand on his stomach clenched tighter and he felt bile rise to his throat, but for the sake of the mission, he was able to keep it down. Sasuke was not doing much better and he knew it.

"O—okay," gulped the Uchiha. "So that means that we…"

"Yeah," sighed Naruto resignedly, "We did." He looked up with a fire in his eyes right after. "But we won't do it again and we won't let _her _do it again."

The trio tried to contain themselves and they were so concentrated that they did not notice how the civilians in their caravan were already fast asleep yet again. Naruto was keeping one eye on them, though. They were their responsibility until Kakashi came back with Jiro; that was when they could finally rest.

"We already called for reinforcements."

"That's g—ood," stuttered Sakura. Her face was pale and her hands were trembling.

Naruto looked downward and wanted to change the subject. Without a second thought, he explained his findings on the seal on Jiro's tongue and how he should be testing something out while they waited, so he unsealed a bowl from his sealing scroll pack, watching how it clinked on the ground metallically. The other two watched as he took his leftover water from his canteen and poured it into the container.

He let out a breath. He let them know that he did not really know what he was doing and that he was acting on a hunch, but it was all that they got so far. He had never created a seal that could be activated through a liquid before. But he knew it was possible. Seals were very malleable, as his mother and father did not fail to tell him over and over again. Almost anything could be possible with them if you were creative enough. Plus, his mom had taken him to the Uzumaki Shrine just outside Konoha before to show him the long lost family heirlooms and all the hidden away scrolls of seals and sealing techniques that were all unique to the Uzumaki Clan before they were wiped out in a Great War decades previously.

There was one thing that really distinguished any kind of seal from the Uzumaki designed ones, and that was the Uzumaki swirl symbol. Every single seal created by the clan had that somewhere on the seal design and none of the others did, mainly because all designs from the clan were specifically geared around the stability of the swirl. It represented power in sealing and made the seal have the ability to last longer with less chakra. In fact, the seal that his father had used to place the fox inside him had the same swirl because it was made by his mother's family.

However, each seal was so unique by that particular symbol because only an Uzumaki or those specifically trained by an Uzumaki could make a scheme with it. If you were not taught properly, just one mess up with coming up with a seal and the incorporation of the traditional swirl could literally backfire on you. So this was why Jiro's seal _had _to be an Uzumaki one, and most likely from the shrine because no place else had any more information on the clan, not even their original Hidden Village of Uzushio. It was carefully guarded by the Hidden Leaf.

The evidence made Naruto come to the conclusion that the person who got the design must have stolen it from Konoha. There was no other explanation. There were few Uzumakis around anymore, and none of them would be willing to teach a non-clan member their ways unless they _married _them, which was the case with his dad, or if they trusted them so much that they were willing to die for them.

Naruto's teammates watched as he opened a ragged-looking leather bound journal. Its pages were covered in numerous notes consisting of seals and ideas for seals, and their ingenuity probably stemmed from Naruto being a prankster. Sakura knew that Naruto was talented in seals, but she was surprised when she saw just how into it he got. Sasuke nodded in approval, as he knew very well that if there was one that that his best friend had a natural talent with, and with the help of Kushina, it was seal work. It was the one thing that Naruto never really had prominent problems with because everything else he learned by doing it with his body.

Sasuke thought that it was probably a family thing.

The blond took out an inkpot and wet the powdered ink inside it with water. Then he dipped a brush that was apparently in his weapons pouch and painted a sketch of something onto a blank page. Naruto let them know that that was what he could remember of Jiro's seal. The drawing was messy and was missing a lot of details, but it got the skeleton down from the oval shape to the swirl on one of its ends.

Naruto felt the night pounding down on him. The pressure was building up from his middle. If he did not have _something _right by the time Kakashi-nii came back with their client, they would be in trouble.

He thought of the basic ways to reverse an Uzumaki seal and went for that. "You think I should put the water symbol here?" he asked Sakura and she nodded in agreement when he pointed to an area on the paper that was near to the right of the oval. "Gottcha."

He scribbled a swirl that he knew would turn counterclockwise instead of clockwise in hopes that he could reverse the effects of the mind control. He bit his lip again and Sasuke and Sakura watched as he ripped the sheet of paper from the notebook and placed it on top of the metal bowl.

Naruto formed a series of hand seals, hoping against hope that it would be the correct set, and then he touched his fingers onto the piece of paper. Seconds passed and the drawing glowed blue. The ink started to fade and seemed to sink from the paper into the water below it until it dissolved in a miniature whirlpool. The liquid turned black for a moment and then turned clear once again.

Naruto sighed in relief. Maybe he did something right. But he wouldn't know until he got Jiro to drink it.

He took the bowl and carefully poured all of it back into his canteen for storage, noting to himself to not drink from it or let anyone else drink from it either.

The group huddled together afterwards, worried and scared. The energy that was fueling their actions had faded off with the time that they waited and waited, so they focused on guarding over Ichiro and his family's servant core. None of them could sleep, so they did not bother announcing shifts.

For a while they took to the quiet and the fighting that Naruto had just exited not too long ago fled from his memory at least for that long.

In fact, if they did not already feel so sick at the revelations of that evening, one could call that night peaceful. Too bad it wasn't.

Naruto felt like he was in a daze for a while. The night was finally lulling him to sleep. He rocked back and forth and did not notice when Sasuke stood up stiffly, an uneasy look in his eyes.

"Kakashi-sensei!" called the Uchiha. Naruto and Sakura perked up at the words.

Running the road was the lone figure of Kakashi. He was stumbling down the grass with a lump over his shoulder that could be none other than Jiro himself. He was huffing and looked disheveled. His headband was up and his bad eye was closed. The team knew then that their teacher had been forced to use his implanted Sharingan. That was most certainly not a good sign.

In seconds he was in front of them and he carefully propped up Jiro's unresponsive body against the _Oda Road _marker.

"The reinforcements we called for arrived and they're holding them back for now," breathed Kakashi. There were scratches all over his uniform. It seemed like it was a one-sided battle. "But we need to run," he commanded, "_now_. Let's get to Mie as soon as possible."

"What? Why?" wondered Naruto.

"Remember the weird seals on Chiya's neck?" the Hatake inquired breathlessly. The blond nodded. "_All _of them have it, and it's no ordinary seal. It makes the user ten times more powerful and with a bloodline limit like that…If I'm right, we need to report this to the Hokage, and that means that you were right about someone stealing the Uzumaki seal because most likely someone _did._

"And that someone is dangerous. Only a ninja that's kage-level could take him on and hope to defeat him."

Sasuke crinkled his eyebrows together hurriedly. "Who is it?!"

Kakashi stared at his team earnestly. "Orochimaru is interfering in Rice Paddies."

"Write the message, Naruto!" he gestured wildly and the teacher turned to wake the civilians nearby. Sakura and Sasuke quickly got Naruto's permission to make Jiro drink the liquid seal after some fast paced instructions from the blond and he handed over his canteen.

Everything was happening so fast. He did not have to think as he wrote a quick note to the Hokage Tower for the second time that night on the last piece of paper: _Orochimaru has followers in Rice Paddies. _He flexed his chakra while the message vanished and he knew that this would alarm the Fourth to no end. There would be no stop to the investigations. The traitor Sanin had not been seen nor heard from since before Minato had taken the hat and the Leaf had failed to capture him.

They needed to end the mission right then, otherwise there would be trouble. They _were _in over their heads.

The hair on the back of his arms stood on end when there was howling in the distance. It seemed like the reinforcements were not holding them off for long.

"Damn it!" shouted Kakashi. "Let's go! Is Jiro awake yet?!" At the question, Sakura sent him a thumb's up. In the back, Jiro stirred a bit and looked utterly confused and terrified as he leaned on the signpost. It seemed that the counter seal worked after all. At least they had that much luck on their side.

Thundering footsteps could be heard suddenly and the group quickly got ready to be on the move again. The genin created a formation around their clients and Jiro was being held up by one of the servants. Both brothers did not look like they were faring well, but it could not be helped. Naruto and his teammates held up their kunai, but Sakura was shaking like a leaf.

She didn't have time to be scared. She had to suppress it. He wished he could tell her that, but by then it was already too late.

If at all possible, _more _of the humanoid creatures were coming in a hoard from the direction of Saga. Luckily, the normal dogs were gone. It looked like he and Kakashi had defeated them all. However, the hybrids that were left behind were glowing and overflowing with chakra. Naruto could feel it even if they were about half a kilometer away. The orange light from their neck seals burned in the black of night and the team and those they were protecting braced themselves. Kakashi stood tall in front of all of them, prepared to defend.

Then, they could heard yelling and war calls. Clashes later and they realized that the Leaf reinforcements had followed the animal-humans all the way to their spot, though Chiya and her brethren were hell bent of killing Jiro.

Asuma Sarutobi appeared out of thin air beside Kakashi, a grim look settled upon him. "You were lucky I had a team out on a completed A-rank mission nearby, otherwise you guys would be dead meat." None of Team Seven laughed at the bearded jounin's dark humor. "It's me and three other chuunin out here, but with the looks of things, we might need all the manpower we've got. A chuunin could easily defeat one of those crazy bastards, but _ten_? You've got to be kidding me. These things are having their powers enhanced by that traitor's Heaven Seal."

The words "Heaven Seal" brought a wave of fresh dream-like thoughts onto Naruto. Had he seen it before? For a moment he was watching a dark-haired Uchiha laugh insanely and wings were spreading out from his back that looked like purpling hands and the sclera in his eyes was black and the irises were _yellow _and there was water and a _waterfall _and…

"What the hell?" Naruto asked out loud. Sasuke stared at him questioningly, but no one else paid it heed.

He shook his head in order to make the weird visions go away.

In no time, the Tsukino Clan hybrids that chased them from the village were so close that they could feel their fighting breaths. With Asuma and Kakashi being the only two jounin with them, they relied on them to make the most movements. The genin were to mainly watch over the clients who were trembling in fright by then. The three chuunin were still clashing with the lycanthropes and one of them spun and sliced one across its chest. Blood spouted out, but it turned out that it was only a graze. The chuunin rolled over when the creature stomped at the spot he was at before.

"Fire Style: Phoenix Sage!" bellowed Sasuke when one of the wolf-things got too close. The fire surged out from his lips in tiny balls and burned the grass tips to charred remains and the creature was momentarily deterred from attempting to attack the circle of genin with their clients in the middle.

"Damn it!" Sasuke hissed. "They're too fast! I can barely see them dodge!"

"I know! We had the same problem before!" boomed Naruto as a reply. "They move like they're possessed!"

"Shit, this is really bad."

The genin moved closer to their clients and Naruto felt Ichiro and Jiro quaking in their clothes. Ichiro was practically biting his nails. And with the civilians totally defenseless with a mere trio of genin around to keep them safe, they really could not go anywhere. All they could really do was keep close and hope for the best, but the best looked like choosing from being clawed out by crazed she-wolf number one, or being gnawed on by psychotic man-wolf number two.

No one really liked their choices.

Asuma and Kakashi were the perfect tag-team. While Asuma was particularly skilled in using chakra blades, Kakashi was skilling in scaring the opponent with his copying and usage of ninjutsu. The two twirled around each other in a perpetual dance, avoiding attacks and creating openings.

The Sarutobi lunged at Chiya who was snarling and baring her fangs. Wind chakra engulfed his blades as he got closer in hopes of making her back into their trap. The edges became sharper, and Kakashi came up behind the woman.

_Ox—Rabbit—Monkey—_and Kakashi's lighting came to life in a more concentrated form than what Naruto witnessed from before. The crackles of electricity were bluer and he charged forward without the woman knowing. Steps away from her, he called out the technique, "_Raikiri_!" and the element pierced through the air with multiple wisps.

They heard a scream.

Out of the light came an unharmed Chiya Tsukino. The jutsu did not touch her at all. Instead, the ground on which she stood was completely obliterated.

It was impossible. She could not have had the time to dodge that quickly. Everyone who watched knew it. The two jounin should have had the upper hand!

But, something wasn't right.

In the dust cloud, there was an orange glow. It was stronger and more vibrant this time. Around the group there was a similar phenomenon occurring at the same moment. Even though the enemy forces were cut in to half of what they started out as when they came down from Saga, it did not make sense that there was so much malevolent chakra permeating the night; it felt oppressive.

Sakura fell to her knees and the civilians all but collapsed. Naruto was used to being around such power; he was the jinchuuriki after all, but Sasuke was not doing much better than the girl on the team was at the moment.

When the smoke fully cleared, they could see the forms of all five remaining shape shifters and realized that all of them were trembling. But Naruto of all people knew that this kind of trembling was not the kind that meant fear. This kind meant power of an unbelievable kind. He had felt it before himself.

The earth seemed to rumble and all around genin, jounin, and chuunin, the lycanthropes grinned with their pointed teeth, as if they could not quite contain their humor. Chiya especially led the goings-on. Naruto felt a shudder run down his spine as she turned to their group specifically.

"You little brats thought you could get away with my prey," her voice sneered at them in its abnormal double tone. "But you thought wrong…and I'm going to prove it to you." She raised her claws which seemed sharper than before. Black markings swam across her fur, but she was acting as if the event was normal. Her irises were glowing yellow now and the sclera behind them was pitch black.

If anyone had to guess, this was a monstrous transformation.

She pointed her claws towards the genin and Naruto's eyes widened. "No," he whispered, but it was too late.

Her nails shot out like bullets and the projectiles spun in the winds madly. They were headed straight toward them, and Naruto only did what he could.

"Multi Shadow Clone!" the blond belted and at least fifty copies of himself puffed into existence. They popped rapidly when the nails hit them, blocking them from the real Naruto and the others nearest to him. But one was headed straight for Jiro and Naruto knew that the woman still recalled her quest to hunt for meat for her next dish. The clones could not get to the middle of the circle in time so the boy himself jumped in front of the teenager, hoping to brush it away with his kunai knife.

He grunted as he slashed it aside and parts of the group fell on top of one another. He winced when he realized that he could not block it all the way. The bullet-like weapon grazed the back of his throwing hand.

Naruto had collapsed on top of Jiro who was shouting and Sasuke had leapt in front of them to defend with his jutsu. He heard another fire technique being summoned up with a blast of chakra and the heat of it brushed against their skin until he heard another thud that meant the attack may have been somewhat successful. The outrageous laughter made him think otherwise.

The Namikaze's stomach dropped when the edges of the small wound on his hand started to turn green in a matter of seconds. He had forgotten that they were poisoned.

"Crap!" Naruto gasped out. The scratch was starting to sting. If he did not treat it soon, then he would eventually start to feel dizzy. Who knew how much time he had left? If he didn't hurry, he could very well die.

"You're poisoned!" he briefly heard Sakura shout and Sasuke started to panic, but Naruto thought quickly. He healed at a relatively fast rate anyway. He could get it out without much of a problem. It was reckless of him to do so of course, but it would get rid of the injury in the short term.

So, he stuck the kunai in his hand into the wound and dug into it, much to the horror of his teammates. He flicked out the blood and the bit of flesh that was affected and he quickly unraveled a swath of bandages from his pouch with his teeth as he rolled it round the afflicted area.

For that time, he thought about how he felt a sense of déjà vu. Had something like this happened before? The memory was fleeting and involved some sort of mission with brothers that worked for hire and a drunk man that may or may have not built some bridge at some unknown place. The thought itched at the back of his mind, but he wanted to stop thinking about it, so he forced himself to do so. It must have been from some weird dream or something.

"When you find yourself surrounded by dirt, it's time to stop digging," Chiya's voice rang out. Right, they were still in the middle of a battle.

Naruto looked up and instead of just Sasuke and Sakura surrounding the perimeter to defend, the jounin had deftly backed up against them as well, completely aware that right now they were kind of disoriented. The three chuunin were working on fighting off two of the Tsukino and the group that the genin and jounin were in was currently enclosed by three of them, including the leader.

They tiptoed around them, snarls on their maws. Kakashi and Asuma kept their guard up. The genin and civilians could not do much at that moment and Naruto wished he knew more offensive sealing like his mother did, and how he longed to be a master of his father's Flying Thunder God Technique. However, right now they were not sure what was going to happen. All they could do was wait. They were trapped in a rock and a hard place.

When Chiya's already wide grin grew, he knew they were in trouble.

"Secret Technique," the Tsukino ninja yelled, "Tsukikage Sankaku!" (2)

If at all possible, the jounin and genin pressed closer together to the civilians, trying to protect their clients from damage and willing to take it on themselves. Unfortunately, the chuunin were still rather busy at the moment to realize that their team captain was probably in deep trouble.

A white light in the shape of a triangle appeared and at each point was a Tsukino ninja. It rapidly shrunk until the triangle was like a gigantic ethereal rope around them, squeezing them further together. Luckily for the clients, they barely felt anything at all, but the Leaf nin did. And boy was it painful. The edges of the shape burned and sizzled into their forearms. Sakura screamed and Naruto tried to use his kunai to slice through it or push it off of him but nothing was cutting through it.

The others struggled and wiggled and he saw that the teachers were trying to come up with a counter strategy that would not hurt the nearby bystanders, especially those trapped behind them. It was no simple task.

But then an idea zoomed inside Naruto's head. The triangle cut into his jacket sleeve and it threatened to get even closer.

"Don't move!" ordered Asuma. The man thought that maybe struggling was causing it to come closer.

Naruto forced his arm into his weapons pouch with a lot of effort even though a fairly sizable cut through his sleeve was the effect. Blood oozed out but he knew he did not have time to think of that. Everyone was getting cut. If only he could get this right, damn it!

Something metal looped around the finger in his pouch. He felt a little further on the handle to check if it was the correct one, and when he felt the familiar course paper against his fingertips, he smirked quietly to himself. He did not want to let the enemy know what he was doing. It was best if it came out as a surprise, even if his teammates were also unaware.

Discreetly, he took the finger looped around the handle and jabbed the three-pronged kunai away from himself even though his limbs were greatly restricted at the moment.

The weapon only flew about a foot away from the triangular constraints and from where the entire trapped group was forced to stand, but it was all he needed. For a millisecond one of the enemies glanced at the stuck kunai, confusion and then sudden recognition alit on his face, but by then it was too late.

_Concentrate on the destination rather than the seal on the handle, _the blond told himself.

Then there was a yellow flash.

He did not make it all the way to the kunai, only halfway there just like when he was practicing with his dad on the training grounds not too long ago. A part of him was frustrated with himself that he could not get it right at such a crucial situation, but the other part of him was leaping for joy. For all intents and purposes, just getting six inches out of the triangle trap was enough. He had teleported out of it and he was free to attack.

Naruto sprinted forward, much to the surprise of everyone in the clearing, and he lunged at the man that had spotted the kunai before, opting for a more brawler-like collision. The lycanthrope was so caught off guard that he did not have time to get out of the way just as Naruto slammed into him full force.

The Tsukino lost his concentration and the triangle broke apart like glass. Naruto smashed his elbow into the guy's neck, hoping to crush the windpipe, but all he got as a result was a minor bought of coughing.

They struggled for a bit and Naruto elbowed him again the neck and clasped his knees around the torso. The boy made quick hand signs, remembering one of the few trap seals his mother had taught him so far. "Uzumaki Style: Binding Seal!" he boomed and out from his hands came a black snake-like rope with the original Uzumaki swirls embedded into it. As the man clutched at his neck, so did the ropes, and so Naruto leapt off in haste.

"How does it feel like to be trapped in now, bastard?!" he fumed, then turned away to the rest of the battle after he stooped down to yank his father's kunai out the ground.

Sakura was now running away from the fight with the civilians and was directing them down the road in a direction that Naruto guessed was towards Mie. His best friend was crouched before the cowering group with a fierce look in his eye and then he turned to run after them as well. As soon as Naruto saw them, he went to follow.

Meters away from catching up, he skidded backwards when a plain chuunin with short cropped brown hair and a Tsukino enemy clashed right before him. Knives clang and he put up his own tri-pronged one to deflect any incoming blows.

It turned out that that was not needed. The chuunin performed an effortless backflip and sprung to his feet until he ducked the creature's clawed hand. He used his momentum to jump forward, twist his body skillfully, and he landed in a one-armed handstand while he balanced on the enemy's free shoulder. He turned in the air again until he used his legs to kick at the back of his opponent, who lurched forward in anticipation.

The luck ended there, however. The Tsukino aimed his claws at the chuunin and Naruto knew what was about to happen.

"Chuunin-san!" warned Naruto to the fellow Leaf ninja who caught the signal, and he whipped out a paper bomb that was attached to a kunai and threw it at the enemy solar plexus. Before it hit, it was swatted away and into the ground further away where it exploded and sizzled into nonexistence.

But the guy was thankfully distracted enough for the chuunin to do something. He did a few hand signs and shouted, "Earth Style: Mud Swamp!" The ground beneath the lycanthrope crumbled away until it was wet and he sank there to his knees.

Suddenly, ninja wire shot out from nowhere and past Naruto's ear. Attached to it was a shuriken which was leading the wire around the body of the trapped adversary. When it made its way around the man, electricity coursed through the metal wire and shocked him. The man was disoriented moments later, but his guttural protesting noises signified that it would not be for long at all.

When Naruto and the chuunin turned to see who had done this, Naruto was not surprised to see Sasuke panting with his arm outstretched and Sakura and the rest of the troop long gone.

"Thanks, Sasuke!" marveled the blond. He received a nod in response.

The chuunin walked closer to them, a commanding aura surround his body. "We need a plan to take this one out," the man informed earnestly, "Before it only took one of us chuunin to defeat one, but either we're getting much slower, or they're getting faster and more resilient. It's like their skin is made of diamond or they keep regenerating. Either way, this guy isn't going to stay incapacitated for long."

Sasuke was quick to agree. "Right I noticed it too. It has something to do with those seals."

"They're like chakra steroids," added Naruto. The group sighed in resignation when the thought was deemed as absolutely true. It was more than lucky that they had two jouin with them.

The chuunin stared at the recovering enemy with concentration. He tapped his chin and then glimpsed back at his genin counterparts. "These guys are fast, but they're big targets…" he trailed off.

Naruto and Sasuke glanced at each other and smirked at an idea that they were sure to have come up with at the same exact time as soon as the chuunin hinted at it. They immediately explained that that meant they probably needed a grand and powerful attack. Sasuke had two affinities thanks to his Uchiha genes, so that meant that he was a fire specialist. On the other hand, Naruto had the affinity for wind and his dad managed to teach him one simple wind style technique after he finally finished wind training, but one push from the air would be all that was needed.

The chuunin agreed that he would execute a genjutsu to distract their foe for a while and he performed the hand signs as soon as the Tsukino snapped out of his stupor and struggled to break from his earthen constraints.

"Magen: Kokoni Arazu no Jutsu!" (3)

Naruto could not see the effects of the jutsu, but he knew that the guy would be seeing something weird with his surroundings if he noticed it. They did not have that kind of time though. He gestured to the Uchiha.

"Fire Style: Great Fireball!" exclaimed Sasuke.

_Tiger—Ox—Dog—Rabbit—Snake—_and Naruto made his signs, shouting, "Wind Release: Daitoppa!" A great gale of win billowed after his friend's fire. The fireball which was already so large grew in size after being fed so much oxygen by the wind pulsing behind it. The techniques combined and clashed against one another, working in perfect harmony as the genjutsu kept the man distracted.

There was a great flash of light and explosions and they knew they finally hit their target this time. They covered their faces with their arms and huffed behind the heat, waiting for the end result.

The lycanthrope had burned to normal size and his mouth was wide open and his arms flung backward. He legs were still partially stuck in the mud, but what really surprised them was that even though he very well should have been dead considering that he was hit directly with a blow that enormous, and the fact that most of his canine features were seemingly gone, he was still breathing. His skin was pink and steaming and _he was still breathing_.

They were in shock, but they kept their guard up. The man twitched and they thought that he was going to attack them, but then he started twitching violently. The black markings on his neck snaked up around his body like a glorified noose.

He started choking as soon as the seal turned from orange to red to purple and glowed so brightly it hurt. The man spit out a mixture of blood and saliva and his chest caved in on itself and his eyes rolled back into their sockets, white and blank. All his muscles started to spasm and the seal appeared to have been squeezing him all the tighter until he could not move or breathe anymore.

In that moment, the man choked and died, collapsing on his knees with his head forever looking up into the moon. His arms dropped limply to the sides and he stayed there as if begging to be saved, but nothing could be done.

One thing was for certain: they did not kill the man. The seal did. The _seal _malfunctioned. It rejected him.

"That was…" Sasuke started.

"We need to check on the others," said the chuunin instead.

They got up and sprinted up the hill and the two chuunin left were soundly knocked out by some unknown force. One of them had a tanto loosely gripped in his hand and covered in red. A look at them and they were grateful that they were only unconscious. The Tsukino Naruto had trapped in a seal was unconscious as well. It seemed that he could not break out, and that meant that two of the last five were definitely taken care of.

But when they really looked, the chuunin had taken out two of the others as well. The body of an enemy was decapitated and his head was nowhere to be found, which the other was pinned up against a tree with what looked like Asuma's wind chakra blades. It was not clear whether that particular foe was still alive and kicking.

However, the jounin were left in a furious battle with the last Tsukino standing, and that was Chiya. If at all possible, she stood taller than before. Her fur was blacker and the seal seemed to have caused her to grow horns on her head. Her growling made her appear more animal than human. There was no reasoning with her anymore.

Unfortunately, she noticed the group that had come to back Kakashi and Asuma up. She lunged at them at lightning speed. No one saw her coming. All three of the new arrivals were kncocked backwards and they grunted at the impact.

If they thought she was fast before, that was nothing. Naruto literally could not see her move. It was like she was using the Hiraishin. It was like she was teleporting instead of stepping or running.

They were in huge trouble.

"Naruto! Sasuke!" called Kakashi worriedly. Asuma came up from behind. In a second, they too were knocked backward by the unseen force of Chiya Tsukino. In response, Kakashi opened his Sharingan eye fully, hoping to copy her movements.

But she was not interested in them; she was interested in the children on the other side. Kakashi flashed after her, seeing her move.

"I told you not to interfere!" the woman screeched. "I TOLD YOU! NOW LOOK WHAT YOU HAVE MADE ME DO!" And she stomped forward and swiped her legs outward until the genin and chuunin who were just getting up were pushed back against the road again.

"NO!" yelled the Hatake. "_Chidori!_"And lighting came to life. He went to slice her, but she dodged and he only was able injure one of her arms. She screamed louder and the seal burned red.

The genin got up along with the chuunin. Kakashi's hand was still pulsing with electricity and Asuma readied a stance.

Chiya started to laugh her trademark laugh again. But this time, there was no more talking, she prepped herself and Kakashi was about to see what she was doing, but he had already used his eye too long. He tipped a bit to the side and shut it after wincing. Asuma looked concernedly to his friend. But now, without a Sharingan eye that could be properly used, they might as well have been dead.

Chiya left her preparation and started running and running until she was all but a blur around them in an enclosed circle. The jounin were trapped outside and they could not do much at the moment. Naruto knew that his teacher felt useless and frustrated at the moment. He would too if that were him waiting on the outside and being forced to watch.

A jab came and Naruto yelped in pain as he slammed into the chuunin who luckily caught him. Another jab and the chuunin fell as he clutched Naruto. Nice purpling bruises started to form on their torsos.

Another blur and Sasuke flew into the two others as well.

Sasuke tried to throw another ninja wire to no avail. He was met with another hit and he clutched his arm with a grimace.

Naruto started to make hand seals and was knocked back yet again. They even caught a glimpse of how Asuma tried a wind technique that was easily blown away. It was like they were trapped in a vortex of never ending energy and it was invisible.

It all seemed so fruitless. They did not know what to do. What _could _they do?

"Screw this!" bellowed Naruto and he swiftly made ten clone pop into action. All of them popped at once, but Sasuke gasped out loud.

"Naruto," he informed hurriedly, "She slowed down—ARGH!" Another invisible punch sent a pain into his shoulder.

"What?" asked the Namikaze.

"Just keep doing that! UGH!" Another hit.

And so Naruto kept attempting make clones and they kept puffing away. He did not understand where this was going or why Sasuke kept informing him the she was somehow slowing down every time she popped that many clones? He guessed it made sense that someone would naturally slow down when they wanted to beat the shit out of someone, but he could not really see the difference.

A distant memory… (Or was it a memory?), hit him like a ton of bricks. Something to do with mirrors and a young boy with a bloodline limit and how he was too fast for them…then it was gone like a light bulb that flicked off before bedtime.

He pulled his fingers in a ram seal and his arms were pulsing with painful contusions. Ten more copies of himself popped.

"There!" Sasuke exclaimed and for some reason the boy went for it. He dived for a particular spot in the circular vortex and…stopped it?

"I got you!" the raven smiled with huffs. Chiya was pinned with a chocked expression on her face. "You can't hit us anymore! I figured you out! You slow down when you hit us by a lot! I can see it!"

"Wha…?" the woman angrily breathed. "That's impossible! Even then you shouldn't be able to see it!" Then, Naruto heard her voice quake, which was a first in all the time she had been beating them senseless. "Y—your eyes! An Uchiha!"

"What are you—" and Sasuke grunted as he was shoved off and he rolled to his side. His face said he was confused. But when Naruto was able to pull himself together and see what had happened, he too was in shock.

His best friend's irises which were normally pitch black were red. Bright red. A single tomoe shape was near the pupil in each eye. It was then that Naruto knew that Sasuke had made his full initiation into the Uchiha Clan. He had only seen eyes like those on other Uchihas, including Sasuke's parents and brother when they went on police patrols around the village.

He grinned and offered up a hand. The raven took it. "The Sharingan!" Naruto beamed, despite the situation.

"What?" huffed his companion.

"You awakened it!" After that, the expression on Sasuke's face changed from one of confusion to one of wonder. They quickly turned to see Chiya who was trembling in anger and fury, more so than before. Her fangs were coming out and visibly growing. The seal turned purple as opposed to the red from before.

Of course, they should have known. The best way to counter a bloodline limit was with another bloodline limit.

Sasuke put on a braver face, as if he was more ready for her than he ever was, which was most likely true.

She opened her mouth and roared. Kakashi and Asuma appeared next to them and so did the chuunin. The moon encircled her head like a halo, the fur on her skin glowing bright. Her eyes were wild and possessed. She crouched and was about to pounce like a true predator wolf.

Then, the same thing from before happened.

She had used too much power and for too long. The strange seal on her neck rejected her. It clasped tightly around her neck, choking her, straining her, making her eyeballs bulge out. Tears leaked out and ran down her cheeks in sad trails. She started to sob as she clawed at her neck and blood tricked from the claw marks and the inside of her lips.

"W—why?" she cried and Naruto almost felt bad for her. The light of the moon shone on her wet cheeks. "I just wanted to keep him alive! I w—wanted to make our pies the best! To keep his memory! I th—thought you would help me, Orochimaru-sama!" At the sound of such a name the Leaf shinobi all tensed.

"I just wanted you to bring him back to me! W—why? W—_why_? I l—loved him…_ack_!" And then she stopped struggling for air. The hands on her neck dropped lifelessly and she sank to her knees and then the rest of her came after in a soft thud. The nails and hair retracted back into their rightful place as if they had never been there in the first place. A single lock of hair fell gracefully on her face.

Chiya was beautiful again with her heart-shaped face and that single mole under her eye. Her dark eyes were still shiny with tears and they kept coming down her nose even as her head hit the ground. Her lips parted ever so slightly, pink and full, lips that anyone would admit were gentle, lips not meant for shouting profanities or curses at innocent people.

And Naruto knew deep in his heart that Chiya must have been a good person before.

The blue moon lit up the road.

Kakashi asked Asuma to send a short message to the Hokage to report to the Rice Paddies Daimyo that Saga Village was corrupt.

The stars twinkled in the nighttime sky, but none of them stopped to admire their work nor the people that were forced to lose their lives that night. They turned their backs on them, leaving everything behind, vowing to understand why a traitorous ninja like Orochimaru would want to destroy the lives of the desperate people he encroached upon.

There was mournful howling in the distance.

ooo

Their return trek to Mie was a quick one, mostly because of theirs and the clients' hasty desire to return home. Asuma and his team split away from Team Seven in order to report their own original mission success and about the botched kidnapping during the length of a C-rank mission.

Mr. Ueda paid Team Seven a hefty price, including a huge tip when Ichiro and Jiro went on their knees and begged him to do so, surprising the man who only laughed it off. The two brothers apologized profusely for their behavior and thanked them one-hundred times over with a lot of bowing and nervous hilarity. It only got worse when they figured out that Sasuke was an Uchiha and that Naruto was the Fourth's son.

The two boys were so embarrassed when Kakashi seriously revealed that information. They both thought that the man was not one to talk about such things so needlessly, but it was later explained to them by Sakura that she thought that their teacher was actually very _pissed _that Ichiro was blaming them for that mess before they went and saved Jiro, especially when his young students could have lost their lives too. He wanted payback in the form of retribution.

They took two more days to return to Konoha, tired and healing. Naruto's injuries were all but gone by then, though.

Sasuke passed his brother on the way to the Tower after checking into the village and notified him that he had awakened his Sharingan. When Itachi asked, "Wait. But you were only on a C-rank mission, right?" then he and the team bolted off faster without a word. They knew that Itachi was already overprotective enough.

The poor guy was probably so suspicious that it would give him a brotherly heart attack.

Kakashi opened the door to the Hokage's office within minutes and the three genin stood behind him at attention. "Team Seven, reporting from a successful C-rank mission, Hokage-sensei."

Naruto and Sasuke snickered at the nickname.

It was then that Naruto felt a pulsing, flaming, _annoyance _behind his father's desk. Dread sat on his shoulders like a heavy raincoat. The back of the high chair was to them, but it soon swiveled around to reveal a fuming Kushina.

"You think that this is _funny_, 'ttebane?!"

Naruto sank into himself. His father flashed suddenly in front of his desk and reprimanded his wife for taking a Hokage's place while he had gone to the bathroom and tried to placate her when she rounded on him as well.

"Our families are going to kill us, right?" the blond asked tearfully to Sasuke and they sighed together as a team in a uniform motion.

For some reason, the thought of having a family to yell at him for something like being worried about him for a mission-gone-wrong—at all—hit Naruto hard in the heart.

**Coming up next…**

**Chapter Seven: Face Fall**

_**Was there something more to that C-rank than they originally thought? Was it more than just Orochimaru that manipulated the strings? Naruto meets someone that triggers some strange memories and Minato uncovers something unsettling…**_

**Answers to questions that you might have been wanting to ask…**

(1) Ta-da! Now you are starting to get clues onto how this story is both AU and time travel. _The loop _is what Naruto is stuck in and he must get out of it otherwise it will be detrimental to where he originally came from. More will be explained later. Also, I _promise _that I had no idea that a mathematical concept such as the _Mӧbius Strip_ existed before I came up with this. It is a pure coincidence, but it's awesome that I came up with a time loop before I knew about it.

(2) _Tsukikage Sankaku _literally means "moon shadow triangle." The _san _connotes the number three for the three sides of a triangle. _Tsuki _is moon and _kage _is shadow.

(3) _Magen: Kokoni Arazu no Jutsu _literally means "Demonic Illusion: False Surroundings Technique." I think this one was used by Kotetsu before, but don't take my word for it. I suppose it doesn't really matter. It's a C-rank jutsu, if you wanted to know.


	10. Face Fall

**AN: I'm so sorry guys…I was totally off schedule with this one, but it was for a good reason. For the past few weeks I had dance practice for an organization in my university from around 6 in the evening to 5 in the morning every day for a dance competition...which we did win so it was well worth it. Also, it was finals week and there were exams that I had to study for, and I felt HORRIBLE for not sticking to the schedule, so here we are. (Please don't murder me.) On a side note, I'll update **_**The Eye of the Storm **_**as soon as I can—and most likely a month from now. (REALLY SORRY for the wait guys.) **

**As I said before**_**, I am going on a study abroad trip to Australia from May 15**__**th**__** to June 13**__**th**_**. So that's about a month. I won't always have internet connection and I cannot bring my laptop, but I have bought a specific notebook just for handwriting fanfics and I will bring all my notes for the next chapters, as well for **_**The Eye of the Storm**_**. That being said, when I return home I will quickly type them up and update. That's right. I will HANDWRITE my fanifcs for you guys. **

**This chapter is kind of a set up chapter for the next huge arc, and after that arc we will be on the final stretch. However, this chapter is very necessary and I have put in stuff here that hopefully you can be thinking about for the next month while I am gone!**

**Please read and review!**

**Chapter Seven:  
>Face Fall<strong>

"_We are but a figment in the grand scheme of things, but one ripple from that figment can cause a slew of effects…and then we see who the master is."_

* * *

><p>"Do you honestly think Iwa is stupid enough to invade us now, especially with Minato here?" boomed the elderly Sandaime Hokage. "Both Iwa and Kumo have tried and <em>failed<em> to cripple Konoha. Minato is too strong for them and so is the village's loyalty to his leadership. If anything, they could try something in Suna during the Chuunin Exams, if our spy network is reliable. However, the best we can do is proceed with caution. Declining an offer to join in the Exams is the same thing as declining an alliance."

Voices echoed loudly throughout the chambers of the Leaf Village Council Room. The arguing had begun when information from Jiraya had come in stating that there might be a possibility of an attempted attack during the biannual Chuunin Exams. It seemed that Iwa had been planning it for years and hitting Suna was their best bet. It was unsure whether or not Kumo was involved, but someone who lived amongst the Rock Village reported it automatically. So far though, it was simply a heavy rumor.

"That is ludicrous!" bellowed the elderly Koharu. "You can't expect the village to just accept that offer and willingly put our genin in danger for a cause that we are not entirely sure about!" More angry tremors reverberated through the halls and people started to stand up. Chairs screeched back on the floor unpleasantly.

In the back center of the room, the Fourth Hokage rubbed his temples as he made a valiant attempt in calming himself down. The whole ordeal was creating a headache that throbbed like hot iron on the sides of his head.

"Our genin are _always _in danger during the Chuunin Exams, and no village is an exception to that fact," fought back Fugaku Uchiha with a burning glare. He and the old woman stared at each other in fury and multiple others joined in and backed either person up with ire.

The argument had been going on for a good two hours complete with men and women shooting retorts back and forth from one side to the other with no regards for anyone else but their own ideas and opinions. So far with one clan fighting with the other and with the Elders thinking that they obviously knew better than anyone else in the room, they were getting nowhere fast and no resolution had cropped up on the horizon. Everyone was simply incredibly annoyed.

Minato barely opened his mouth in all that time. He did not need to and frankly, he did not want to. He had enough experience with Konoha politics to know that saying something at that moment given his position would only serve to aggravate people more. It was a better strategy to wait for the opportune moment like a period of silence, when someone outright asked for what he thought, or when all the blabbering baboons decided to calm down for five seconds.

The moment finally came unexpectedly. The doors of the Council Chambers flung open with an abrupt _bang_. In stepped a cat masked ANBU member with dark brown hair that seemed to stick out from behind it. A yellow and green toad hopped in beside his sandaled feet, a hastily rolled-up paper scroll strapped to its back.

Minato raised a tired eyebrow. An ANBU always alerted his or her Hokage if they were going to interrupt a meeting or if they were going to appear without orders. The fact that this one said nothing at all meant that whatever they were about to report was heavily important. The toad by the man's feet only exemplified that fact.

The blond leader rose from his seat and the Council was uncharacteristically hushed. Beside him, the Third's arms tensed.

"Gamatabi," (1) intoned the Fourth and the toad seemed to nod and acknowledge its name as it hopped over to the man. As the amphibian came closer, Minato had a further sinking sensation within him. A toad meant Jiraya. A message from Jiraya accompanied with an ANBU meant bad news, _very _bad news.

The animal turned around, exposing its back, and Minato bent over to retrieve the scroll there. When he unraveled it and read the message, he knew that his instincts never failed him. But that did not mean that he had to like what they told him.

He really should have known. Not too long ago, Team Seven had been on a mission that indirectly pointed to something like this. They all internally saw it coming; this was just the hard, solid proof.

The kage lifted his head, a stern and serious flicker appeared in his azure eyes, and he looked at the crowd before him. No one dared to speak up. Even others that were just as powerful as Minato knew that whenever the Fourth gave that look, there was absolutely no room for arguing. This was a Hokage in action.

"We now have evidence that Orochimaru will mostly likely be involved in this possible attack," he thundered with authority. "This fact is now classified an S-rank secret and may not be shared with anyone outside this room unless they already know or if specifically advised. The only person I shall inform is our ally, the Kazekage." His eyes flashed darkly, "If any of this information is shared without my express consent, Orochimaru and his followers may find out we know and that will endanger everyone involved in any counterattack and I will consider you a traitor to the Leaf.

"Make no mistake. We now cannot afford to leave Suna alone with her own devices. Not only is the Sand our ally, but now one of our missing-nin is liable to attack them. It is our duty to obliterate the problem."

No one argued with his statements.

However, the bandaged old man, Danzo, made a move and suggested that if they were to enter the Exams anyway, that he offer up one of his special ninja. Minato narrowed his eyes, fully aware that ROOT still functioned even though the Third had officially disbanded the group years previously. Now, they were technically just more specialized ANBU agents, but the Fourth was no fool in more ways than one. He knew to keep an eye on the group, but he also knew that the village needed shinobi that would do the darkest deeds like they did.

"Fine," agreed Minato with a trace of hesitation. "One of the specialized ANBU will enter with a genin team from Konoha and help to infiltrate our enemy's plans." He swiftly turned to the ANBU that still stood at the door. "Cat," the leader commanded, "You will follow me to my office after this is done. I have an assignment for you."

And for the next few hours, the Council settled down on forming a plan for the Chuunin Exams that would occur in just over a month's time. A missive was secretly sent to the Kazekage on the Hokage's orders.

The fact that Iwa had also two jinchuuriki sat cripplingly in the back of everyone's minds like a weight.

ooo

When Naruto came home for a lunch break, he did not expect to run into his father in the kitchen. A pot of freshly made pork dumplings simmered on the stove and two bowls of jasmine rice sat on the round, wooden table in the dining room nearby. Curls of smoke floated above them and Naruto noticed that a dirty bowl was inside the sink. It seemed that his mother had already left for her mission.

But what was really odd was the fact that his dad was sitting at the table with his food at that hour of the day, especially since Naruto knew that he was been out doing work so early in the morning even before the boy had left for training exercises with his team.

The even stranger part was that his father did not bother to acknowledge his presence. It was totally out of character.

After gathering a few of the dumplings from the stove into his rice bowl, Naruto sat across from his dad, a fair eyebrow raised.

"Uh," spoke Naruto unsurely, "You okay, dad?"

The boy was met with utter silence and that only amplified his worry. Something must have happened, but being the Hokage's son made him privy to the fact that there were just some things that he could not ask about, no matter who he was.

Minato thoughtfully took a bite of his food after he used his chopsticks to dip a dumpling in a saucer full of soy sauce. The man still did not speak.

Naruto decided that it was best not to push him. He knew that his dad was not one to get angry per se, but he had a tendency to sink within himself whenever he had something on his mind. His mother often grew frustrated with this trait because it meant that the whole family did not know what was going on or how to help if ever there was a crisis until he actually spoke up.

But this was a different kind of silence from the other ones. It was penetrating one, like an imaginary lance trying to pierce through the air. The oppressive feeling made Naruto wonder just what kind of thing was on his dad's mind. Even as a quiet man, Minato was never quite quiet enough that he seemed like he was almost…reluctant to respond.

With that abrupt realization, the genin grimaced. He knew deep down that he was right.

Suddenly, he heard a plate screech across the table and Naruto glanced up from his rice bowl. His dad was looking him straight in the eye, an odd solemnity exuding through him.

"Kakashi has been telling me that your team's training has been going well," said the Hokage seriously. The tone made Naruto's skin tingle.

"Yeah." Naruto blinked. His gaze travelled to his untouched food and he avoided the blue irises that stared at him from the opposite end of the table.

"Your generation is talented. I know you will continue to work diligently."

The conversation ended there and the silence continued like it had never broken. It was uncomfortable to be that quiet, not at all like the comfortable silences that he and his dad would fall into if ever there was a time for them to not speak or if they ran out of words to exchange. For some reason, the boy felt a bit pressured to keep talking. He did not like how his dad was acting, and it even scared him a little. But he supposed that he should have seen it coming.

Not only were both of his parents worried sick about him after Team Seven returned from the botched C-rank mission in Rice Paddies, but the news that he was aware they brought back with them was disturbing. For the past week his father had been going to his office earlier and earlier in the mornings and coming back home sporadically. His mom fussed over his dad when he came back with bags under his eyes and stress was clearly written all over his face.

But it was today of all days that Minato seemed different. Not to mention that his mom was out at least for a while.

However, it was the mission that started it all, and Naruto was no exception from its effects. He bit his bottom lip and reluctantly went on to ask his father about what he had been thinking about the past few days. "So, I was wondering. That information we told you…about Orochi—"

_Thunk. _

Naruto's eyes widened when he was interrupted mid-sentence by his father's fist pounding loudly on the wooden surface. He watched as the hand used was tightly curled into a fist. It clenched tightly and the tendons on the back were tensed. Then, almost as if something snapped in the atmosphere, the hand abruptly relaxed and Minato's fingers uncurled until they lay flat on the table.

Naruto carefully let out a breath he did not know he was holding.

"You already did a few D-ranks today," Minato stated calmly. "Based on Kakashi's methods, that means that you're on a break until it is time for individual sparring or practice."

The young Namikzae gulped quietly and thought about the confusing behavior for a fleeting moment before simply shaking his head in order to clear his contemplations. "R—right. But I was asking about…"

"…and I'm pretty sure that your teacher will step it up considering that the three of you have been genin for a while now," continued the older man.

"But—"

"_Listen, _Naruto," and this time the son's head snapped up. The tenor in his father's voice had changed so quickly that it was difficult not to notice. It was deep and placid, but commanding. Whenever he heard this tone it was from a kage. "Whatever Kakashi says and suggests…I think you should listen to him. You should listen to your commanding officer no matter what."

Just the way the statement was spoken was the clue. This was not a proposal; it was an order. And to that, Naruto only nodded with a hint of confusion.

After a minute in extended silence, Minato informed his son that he had to get going and he wished him good luck in his trailing endeavors, but a strained underlying tone remained. It was almost like the strange situation had never occurred, but they both knew. However, Naruto was still in the dark as to what had instigated the ordeal in the first place.

But afterwards, the boy decided not to think too much on it. He took his time in eating the rest of his food, well aware that their sensei would be at least an hour late for their designated meeting time. An hour was even pushing it. Normally it was two or more, but considering that the day was already getting late, he considered that logically Kakashi-nii would want to work in the daylight hours mainly.

He stood up and went to the sink to wash his utensils before placing them carefully on the drying rack. Sighing, he replaced the sandals on his feet and took off to the training grounds.

He arrived in less than five minutes in a flurry of dust and leaves. As expected, only two of his teammates were actually there and Naruto, Sasuke, and Saukra all sighed in unison at the revelation. Instead of sparring like usual, the trio decided that they would _patiently _wait for their instructor to come to them and they plopped down near the trunk of a tree in a heap of frustrated limbs.

"Stupid sensei," growled the girl in the group and the boys nodded in agreement.

Surprisingly, Kakashi only came about half an hour after they had, but Sakura and Naruto bellowed at him anyway in their customary greeting.

"Now, now," the jounin leader said placatingly as he gestured with his hands in a calming matter. "I know we already did missions for today, so we're going to do an exercise that isn't too labor intensive."

Considering what his nii-san considered "labor intensive" was more of a work out than he liked to admit, a less intense exercise seemed to emit the possibility of being a _normal _exercise. As a result, Naruto snorted and crossed his arms.

"Right," mumbled Sasuke, "what are we gonna do? Throw a thousand shuriken each at about a million moving targets before we die?" Sakura giggled at the comment.

The team shifted a little and then they heard the movement of fabric and metal against skin. The three genin looked up to see that their sensei had revealed his scarred left eye and that his other eye was curved into a smile. If that said anything about their current situation, it clearly meant that this was not leading to a pleasant experience.

The teacher ignored the quiet complaints of his students and placed a hand on his hip. "We're going to perform a genjutsu exercise today."

Naruto saw his best friend blink. "I have the Sharingan," stated Sasuke matter-of-factly.

Kakashi nodded. "Yes," he replied, "and so do I," and then he pointed to his eyelid. "But for this purpose, I want you to pretend that you don't have it. Don not use your Sharingan. If there is anything I have learned from this implanted eye, it is that it has its limitations. If you use it too much, it causes a strain on your chakra, and I have heard that it is possible that it could put a strain on your eyesight as well."

The Uchiha looked, wide-eyed, toward his teacher and exchanged glances with Naruto who continued to pout.

"There may come a time when you are in that kind of bind and you can't use your bloodline limit," continued the Hatake, "and there may come a time when each of you are trapped in a genjutsu with little to no help."

"So what's the training, sensei?" inquired Sakura with raised eyebrows.

The jounin took a careful look at his pupils, his singular black eye shining in what appeared to be determination. But Naruto noticed that he had lingered a second longer on him than on the others and another strange emotion akin to worry flickered across his features and the blond scrunched his eyebrows together. But he did not know if that was just a fleeting observation or not.

What could Kakashi possibly be worried about?

He did not have time to question it.

"I'll put each of you under a C-rank genjutsu called the Warp," informed the teacher. "All of you will go under at the same time and I will time you to see how long it takes for you to break out of it. If you are in it for more than five minutes, I will break you out myself." He gazed at them again. "Are you ready?"

The three agreed that they were.

"Alright," the man added seriously. "One last piece of advice: remember that genjutsu is only a disruption of your chakra."

Team Seven minus their jounin leader spread out from each other a bit more and stood in a bent line in the sight of Kakashi. The grass rustled ominously in the afternoon winds and their sandals brushed the earth as they each lowered themselves into ready stances. They only looked at their prospective attacker with trepidation.

Naruto felt himself tense. He did not bother to glance at the other two. This was no teamwork exercise; it was individualized and he knew that all of them were very aware of that fact. Nervousness swam into his veins as he realized the situation. He had never really been in a genjutsu before…well, probably not as advanced at the one he was about to be put under. A small part of him vaguely remembered the strange illusion the Iwa ninjas tried to place him under long ago and he shuddered. He was past that now…

"Begin," rang Kakashi's monotone voice and it echoed and echoed as if the three of them were in a long, rocky cave on the coast of an ocean. He barely registered his teacher weaving his hands into signs.

The Namikaze knew he was in an illusion the moment the technique was put into effect. The strange thing was, it was like that thought was in the back of his mind but the rest of him was completely unaware of it. He could not control his body and as a result it followed its own predetermined motions like something programmed him to do so.

But of course; he _was _programmed to move like that. The boy was ensnared in a deception that was not of his own making.

The green scenery faded away and dissolved into nothingness. Rocks started to build themselves around him and fire sparked into existence. The sky overhead colored itself a darker shade of navy blue and he suddenly realized that he was in the middle of some sort of crater. Clouds streamed above him like gray ribbons.

And across from him, just meters away, was Sasuke. He looked older and taller with a strange white outfit that was tied around with a bulky purple rope. His eyes were furious and lightning cracked in his fist as he scowled over at Naruto.

But that was not the oddest part: Naruto actually thought that the scene was _familiar_.

The blond shook his head and clutched his forehead as he told himself again and again that it was a fake, an illusion created by someone else. He started to back away, but the lighting came closer and closer until Sasuke broke out into a full-out sprint.

Naruto's eyes widened into saucers. "Wait! Sasuke! Ah!" He fell backward and collapsed on his haunches, trying to roll over and avoid the lightning blade. A gigantic flash of light engulfed his vision as a sheet of bright white and then he was still rolling over, barely avoiding flying stacks of jagged pieces of wood that seemed to come out of nowhere.

A gurgle soundedand before him was the dead body of an older version of Neji Hyuuga and for some reason tears prickled at the corners of his eyes even as he watched an older Hinata sob over the corpse.

As soon as Naruto composed himself enough to try and figure out why this genjutsu was affecting him so much and that he really needed to get the hell out of there, a foot came and struck him in the stomach. He grunted and grasped at his tender midsection before wincing and moving his gaze towards the sky.

Glaring down at him was a single red eye. It glowed, crimson as the spilt blood of his comrade on the battlefield behind a bright orange mask. A man stood there, hovering over him in a black cloak with red clouds stitched onto it as the pattern, but all Naruto could focus on was the mask with its swirl and its increasing familiarity.

Was it the standout hue of it? Was it that the lifeblood of a fellow Leaf Village member had somehow soaked through his clothes and was now painted on his fingertips?

All that Naruto knew was that it was at that moment that he had completely forgotten he was alone and imprisoned in a genjutsu.

"What will you do, Uzumaki Naruto?" growled the mysterious figure as the world became darker and trembled around them. "It's your fault that your friends are now dying for your sake. How many more souls do you wish on your conscience?"

"No! None!" he shouted and he quickly got up in a panic to turn away and run.

The genin huffed and gasped, feet crunching through the grounds and then he was sinking and sinking in the cracked earth. It transformed into liquid and his legs were slowing down and he was pumping his body to move along with the flow of it. The current was thick; he was stuck in there like dirt on gum. He waved his arms around, flailing and moving and struggling until he was so deep within the earth that he was practically drowning in it, and then he disappeared all the way in.

Naruto took a deep breath and the weird substance pressed against his skin. He shut his eyes tightly and for a long while everything was dark and black, nothing to be seen.

When he no longer felt he liquid earth, Naruto opened his eyes. The surroundings were still very dark and dimly lit, but the air felt damper than it did before.

Suddenly, he fell into something with a splash. When he had the time to observe it, he saw that the thing he fell into was shining and golden water. Numerous ripples circled outward from his form and he breathed a short sigh of relief because he had finally left the terror that was the place from before. He would rather be soaked to the bone in metallic water than in metallic tasting blood.

For a moment he just laid there as he stared at his reflection. Then, a shimmer of something red appeared on the surface where his face should have been looking back at him.

He recognized that red easily.

"Neither of us have any sort of luck, do we?" the voice of his mother remarked thoughtfully, but he was not quite sure who she was talking to, "You keep the world at bay…but I keep _you_ at bay." And then a familiar rumbling and snarling resounded around him and he thought he also heard the swishing of tails, but then another sound interrupted his musings.

A sandaled foot splashed onto the surface of the water, completely obscuring the mirrored image of his mother's face and there standing on it was someone else.

Naruto wriggled to stand up by himself, but instead a calloused hand appeared in his line of sight and offered to help him up. Attached to that arm was Naruto's dad who was in his Hokage coat and appeared a bit younger than he remembered. The bit of wrinkles under the man's eyes were nonexistent, but there was a sort of sadness that emanated from him that there never was before. It was not the guilt he was used to, but rather much more than that.

Regret…?

"I know your name because _I_ named you," the Yondaime explained without any previous context. "You are my son."

Naruto was definitely more confused than he was before. "I know that already, dad."

But the man seemed to be unable to hear him, so he went on as if nothing was said. "When I sealed half of the demon's chakra into you, I also sealed part of my psyche into the sealing spell as a failsafe if you ever reached the eighth tail." Then, his azure eyes flashed to somewhere behind them. "I never wanted to see you again…Kyuubi."

Then, like all the times when Minato would teach Naruto something or if Naruto needed help, his eyes softened considerably and father and son were looking at each other. "But I guess we can call it even. I get to see my son as a grown man."

The genin gasped in shock and saw that his own reflection was indeed of an older version of himself, one he did not recognize. And then the surface rippled again and before him was his Jiraya-jii with his arms crossed and his trademark smirk.

"We really gotta work on your genjutsu breaking skills," the white-haired man spouted confidentially, "To put it simply, you pretty much suck at it. How are you going to fight against that Uchiha kid if you can't leave a genjutsu on your own?"

_Genjutsu._

_Genjutsu._

What? Why did that sound so familiar?

"C'mon," the older shinobi said. "One of my toads will put you under one and you have to break out of it."

_Break out._

A flash and it was a different person before him and he was in the training fields in an even more obnoxiously bright orange jacket than he was originally wearing. This one had accents of bright, _bright_ blues on it instead of his customary blacks, grays, and oranges. A silver-haired Kakashi puffed in front of him and chimed, "Shinobi tactics lesson number three: genjutsu…!" And then he was making hand signs and then…

"Oh!" yelled Naruto shakily and he remembered what was actually happening. He pushed all the chakra he could into his exhausted limbs and yelled, "RELEASE!"

The illusion melted before him.

Naruto gasped and fell like a puppet with its strings cut. He was on his knees before he knew it and when he glimpsed at his surroundings, he noted that he was the last one to exit the genjutsu. Closing his eyes and quaking, he placed his head into his arms and shut his eyes tight. Sweat trickled down his forehead in rivulets and he used his hands to grasp at his hair as he curled a bit into himself. His head was pounding violently.

"Three minutes and forty-eight seconds," he heard their teacher say, "You were starting to push it there, Naruto. Both Sakura and Sasuke broke out before or right after the two minute mark."

Unfortunately for the jounin, Naruto was nowhere near to actually paying attention to what was being said. Instead, he decided to speak out with an unrelated question. "That genjutsu…w—what was it? What did it do?" he asked with his lips barely parted as he tried to compose himself.

"You okay?" the boy heard as he was patted on the back and Sasuke helped his friend stand up.

Instead of answering, the blond stared at Kakashi who was now lowering his headband and retying the cloth to cover his bad eye. After a moment, he was finally met with the answer he was craving for.

"Warp is short for Warp Memory," replied Kakashi lazily. "It's only a C-rank and it isn't as powerful as the Uchiha genjutsu, but it is a tricky one which is why I picked it." He scratched the back of his hair and tilted his head to the side a little. "Essentially it doesn't really rely on the creativity of the caster as much as it does on the actual memories of the victim…"

Naruto leaned on Sasuke a bit before straightening himself and brushing his clothes off, hands still slightly pallid in color. "And that stuff means…?"

The jounin let out a breath. "Meaning that it takes some of your memories and 'warps' them into something strange, hitting anyone personally in whatever way possible," continued he. "The reason why the technique is not a higher ranking is because generally its illusions take a lot less control and once detected, are very easily broken out of. Usually it only takes one try to destroy it."

The pieces of information that he was just told came crashing down on him like multiple flaming meteors all at once. It was mostly because none of it made any sense, but at the same time it made all the sense in the world.

But what scared him was the act that the genjutsu was based on _his memories. _If his memories were those, what did that mean? But if those were his memories, then the Kyuubi's constant cryptic messages and his strange dreams made sense.

Naruto let out a fake smile that both Sasuke and Kakashi detected and said that he was fine, but both males knew better than to dispute that kind of lie.

Instead, Kakashi sighed. "Well I think that's enough training for today." Then the man whipped out a scroll and opened it to read from it, much to the surprise of his team. "Now onto the last business for today…I have nominated Team Seven for the Chuunin Exams that will be held in the Sand Village in about two months."

ooo

After the shocking news from their sensei, the team had gone their separate ways.

Sakura had simply looked at both her fellow genin and nervously accepted the application for her possible joining. Saskue and Naruto were excited and more than willing to participate, as always, and Kakashi seemed openly glad to hear it. ("Great! I've got to tell Asuma that he lost the bet!") They were to turn in the applications the day of intended departure, so they had plenty of time to think about it.

Well, that was over a month ago now. There were now a handful of weeks until decision time.

And in that month, things did not go as originally thought. As soon as Naruto heard the news that his team was nominated for the Chuunin Exams, he sprinted home with a grin on his face, eager to let his father know when they both returned. He could let his mother know when she came back from her mission. The excitement was real and true and he felt the blood pumping in his veins. All thoughts of his strange genjutsu training left him for that moment.

But, hours into being home alone and his mom already coming back, he had wondered where his dad was. Surely he could have heard by then.

When Naruto asked around midnight, a masked ANBU agent had appeared before him and simply stated, "The Hokage is busy."

And that statement had defined their relationship for the month and then some.

Every time he went to his father's office to offer him lunch like he normally had, he was met with the same response over and over again. The office was either empty or too occupied for Naruto to think about entering. He barely saw his dad in the house. He did not even get to eat dinners with him anymore. It was like the man did not exist in his life.

When he spoke of his concerns to his mom, Kushina only sighed sadly and ruffled his hair, oddly not saying anything.

So he did not know what the problem was, not for that entire time, and frankly he was growing more and more frustrated.

It was like they were getting detached from each other. Naruto only ever saw Minato when it was official Hokage business. He was met with a distant voice and a distant presence, not at all his own father. They were acting like strangers, not family.

And it hurt.

Kakashi and his team went for a short C-rank to deliver a package in the next village over and when they returned for the debriefing, it was all business as usual.

"Team Seven reporting from a successful C-rank mission, sir," drawled Kakashi and the team members hung out in the background, listening as intently as they could without falling asleep. And throughout the one-sided conversation, Naruto stared at his father who seemed to be totally unaware that his son was in the room, but he knew otherwise.

There was no sideways glance or a smile to let him know of a job well done. Just that cold, blank, distance that Naruto despised.

After the report, Naruto said, "Mom isn't cooking today. She said I can go to the Uchiha's to eat dinner. I'll see you at home, da—"

But then, stern blue eyes met his. A sunken feeling enveloped his chest and Naruto lowered his gaze.

"…Hokage-sama," Naruto whispered instead with great hesitancy, and he stormed out the door, questioning looks from his team members boring into his back.

He walked out of the Tower, partially in a daze and partially with ever growing anger. He had never felt that frustrated before. He had not felt so cast aside. The distancing, the chill between him and his father, it was all building up to a powerful strain between them. And Naruto did not understand at all. His dad never used to be that way. It was like Minato was deciding after years of being his dad, that he would be just be his Hokage now.

Like they were never meant to know each other in the first place.

"Ugh!" Naruto murmured as he clutched at his head. He did not notice that his three remaining teammates were following him worriedly until he was moments away from the Uchiha District.

He swiftly whipped around, fire in his eyes. "What?!"

Sasuke, Sakura, and Kakashi stared, not saying anything.

The wind was harsh in the damp, heated air, like it was pushing vigorously on all of those that inhabited the Leaf Village. It pressed and pressed on them like a pressure unseen, wild and untamed. It was much like the mood Naruto was feeling that time: confused and boiling to the brim with so much irritation than it might as well have been palpable.

The two guards in front of the Uchiha District were staring at him too, he could feel it.

But amidst the tension, it was Sakura would spoke out first. "You've been acting angry lately and we're worried about you and…"

"You're never like this, idiot," finished Sasuke.

"You don't know anything!" shouted the Namikaze. He crossed his arms and tried to hide his emotions. It was not working. "Forget it."

Saskue and Sakura glanced at each other and the Uchiha reluctantly invited her inside to eat as well. He decided that she was there anyway, so it did not matter. They left him alone and walked to the home together until their third teammate would join them.

Naruto was about to turn and leave as well until he felt a hand grip at his turning shoulder. When he looked up, he easily recognized the black eye of his teacher.

"Naruto," Kakashi remarked, "The others might not know it, but I know what's bothering you," at the crinkle in the boy's eyebrows, he knew he had hit a soft spot. "Whatever you're thinking, it is not your fault. Trust me. I know what it's like to have a father with a somewhat dual personality, hm?"

The blond glanced at the Hatake in surprise. He had forgotten that the man had a famous parent, Konoha's White Fang.

Kakashi's good eye curved into a smile. "I guess you could say that the real problem here isn't why this is happening, but more of how it's being handled, right?" he went on. "I'm your sensei. You can learn a few things from a guy like me."

And then he vanished into thin air and a swirl of leaves.

Naruto knew what the man really meant behind his words. He had spent enough time with his family-like-figure to understand the underlying meaning. _You can talk to me_, he said. _I can help you fix it_.

He wanted to be grateful, he really did, but a part of him did not know what to feel exactly.

So instead he attempted to bury his feelings in the deep recesses of his heart and he walked past the guard with a nod and followed his friends to the Uchiha Head's family home after he shoved his hands into his pockets.

When he arrived at the dining table, it was like he entered a place he was not supposed to be. It felt like as soon as he entered, all conversations shifted someplace else than what they originally were. He was given a nervous smile from Sakura, but no one else seemed to notice and no one else seemed to make any other indications that there were other conversations going around before Naruto had come in.

Surprisingly, even Itachi was at the table, contentedly sitting cross-legged and awaiting for food to be served.

But when Naruto sat down next to Sasuke at their low table on top of a cushion on the floor, he eyed his rice bowl warily. For some reason, Naruto just did not feel all that hungry. He barely heard the conversations circulating around him, nor did he notice that he was eating his food at all. For the most part, he did not speak, but every time he did he was grinning and laughing joyously.

It was all a part of hiding his emotions though.

And maybe when he looked back on it, he would realize that almost everyone recognized the tactic like it was the backs of their own hands.

When Sakura had to excuse herself because of the time and her mother's strict schedule, she was escorted politely outside and soon that left just Itachi, Sasuke, and Naruto. It was suggested that the brothers should take Naruto home as well. None of them complained because it only meant that there was more time to talk.

However, as Mikoto and Fugaku Uchiha left the table, Itachi seemed to have other ideas.

Naruto and Sasuke got up to leave, but Itachi shoot his head and put a finger up to his lips and motioned for them to follow. Confused, they followed him to a back room in a part of the Uchiha Mansion that Naruto had astoundingly never ventured to beforehand.

The teen slid the door shut quietly and their bare feet pattered on the tatami mats in the dark room. It was empty save for a single low table that was pushed up against a wall and there was one circular window that gave the place its only light. Since the sun was setting, the rays that streamed through it were at a minimum, hitting the mats in tiny dying rivulets.

Sasuke gave his older brother a look. "You're being really secretive. What's going on?"

Itachi ignored his younger sibling's comment and instead turned to Naruto. "Everyone is worried about you, Naruto," at the silent warning nudge from Sasuke's elbow, he seemed to disagree. "Even though they're trying to hide it from you, I think you should know."

The feelings of confusion and anger rushed back into Naruto. The blond huffed. "I don't know what you're talking about," he stated irritably. "If that's it, I'm going home."

"I told you that you shouldn't have said anything," whispered Sasuke harshly to Itachi.

Naruto looked between them and signed. He had enough of that. He needed to leave, then.

"The Fox," the elder Uchiha brother explained quickly. The teen received the reaction he was searching for. Naruto stopped dead in his tracks. "That's the reason the Hokage seems to be distancing himself from you."

There was no response after that.

"It's more complicated than you think," offered Itachi. "If you need any proof, I know exactly how to get it. It helps that my little brother knows your secret as well."

Naruto did not know how he got into that next situation, precisely. It just kind of happened. He found himself sitting on the dark blue tile roof of the Uchiha Head's home over the rafters of some meeting room. Itachi touched each Sasuke and Naruto with a technique and somehow their chakra reserves were hidden from sight. They inched to the floor and sat next to a partially open set of windows and crouched underneath them.

Behind the windows they could hear faint talking and Naruto recognized the voices as the parents of Sasuke and Itachi.

"This is ridiculous, Fugaku," he heard the soft voice of Mikoto reply to something that was said previously. "How are we supposed to agree to this?"

"We already have," said a deeper tenor.

There was some shuffling and fabric rustling. "Itachi knows, of course, and Sasuke may be distantly aware of it, but this is dangerous!"

"Itachi can take care of himself, you know that, and so can Sasuke. If anything, he has his brother there with him and not to mention his sensei and the Hokage himself. I'm not worried about it."

He heard sighing from the woman and he strained his ears to hear her better when her voice started to sound a bit more muffled. He imagined that she was cupping her hands to her face as if in distress. "It's not our boys taking care of themselves that I'm worried about. They're shinobi and our family is used to these kinds of situations." A pause. "I'm more worried about the _reason _Team Seven was nominated for the Chuunin Exams."

At this, both Sasuke and Naruto glanced at each other in awe and both soundlessly leaned in closer to hear.

"They would have been nominated regardless, Mikoto," responded Fukagu. "They have been ready."

"I know that," said the mother. "But it's like they don't have a choice. Minato knows that the team will accept. The boys are too eager and Sakura will be pulled in whether she likes it or not. Kakashi will find a way to convince them if they say otherwise…it's just…" He heard another heavy sigh. "It's like he's using them without telling them and the only ones who know are the adults.

"This isn't like the Hokage at all."

Naruto imagined Fugaku's face as he looked at his wife. Probably stern, possibly concerned. He could not tell.

"It _is _like the Hokage to do this," refuted the man, "but no…it is not like Minato."

More movement indicated that Mikoto was re-crossing her legs as if fidgeting. "Kushina has been telling me that Naruto is frustrated about his father, that it seems like Minato is distancing himself. She knows why, of course, but she really can't do anything about it. She can't say anything to her son because if the genin on the team knew _why _they have to go to the Exams, there is a good chance that Sakura might outright refuse and that the Council has stupidly rejected telling them, but he usually goes against their wishes anyway…

"I don't know, Fugaku. With all of this out of context, and the possible invasion during the Exams coming up, how could the Hokage not tell Naruto that he needs him to go there as the jinchuuriki of the Leaf, to use the power of the bijuu? And Sasuke…I know his Sharingan can be strong enough to control…the demon if something goes out of hand."

Naruto felt something inside him sink so low in his throat that it felt like a boulder was choking him from the inside out.

"From what Kushina says, Minato does not want to get too close to Naruto right now if he needs to see him as a weapon just in case the time comes."

"Knowing him, it could be a way of punishing himself for it," they heard the father say out loud and with another sigh. "He has done that before."

ooo

What he could remember of his dream was that he was all alone in that dusty, downtrodden apartment of his, gazing at a plastic bowl of supposedly fantastic instant ramen. (Limited edition, if he had to say so himself.) The container was red and bright, filled with delicious steaming noodles.

He had played cards with himself—his shadow clones—in an attempt for some normalcy and to lessen the overbearing feeling of loneliness that permeated the walls.

And then some strange person clad in obnoxious green spandex came knocking on his window to call him over with the others to go and hang out at the bath house. Not that he minded. He remembered that his dream self eagerly awaited that moment because he had felt so lonely.

Then he had accepted, things happened, shenanigans occurred. Maybe he was caught peeking or something, he could not quite recall.

But what he did remember the best was that at the end of his vivid he was alone again in the apartment. Alone and sitting there at his table, slurping on yet another bowl of instant ramen noodles after everyone had already left to go home while he sat there, gorging himself because really there was nothing else he could do in the dead of night. Nothing except look around and sit and wander the streets.

Maybe his dream self did other things like flick open a canister of spray paint and vandalize some poor bloke's storefront.

A dream had never felt so lonely and boring before. You would think that his mind would be more creative with things. Maybe pictures could have come to life and started to chase him around while they played some glorified game of tag. Maybe he convinced his dad to make a new law stating that every Tuesday was Ramen Day and that the tasty noodles should be celebrated and served in special flavors that one day a week. He could have lived with that.

Instead, as Naruto walked to Kakashi-sensei's apartment complex he thought about how dull it all was to dream like that. How drab and dark. He did not even wake up from it with a start, as he would have rather endured. He woke up calmly as if nothing was wrong, slightly dazed and groggy from sleep, but normally nonetheless.

And the blond finally reached the door to his teacher's place, a sigh resting on his lips that morning. It was a Sunday so the team was off, naturally. The one day that they ever could be off was on a Sunday.

There was only a week left till the final words on the Chuunin Exams, but so far almost every day Naruto would go to Kakashi's place secretly before or after practice on when they were off. The other two members did not know about it, not even Sasuke. For some reason, it felt really personal. He had not told his mom either…or his dad.

_Not that he would care anyway_, thought Naruto with a frustrated clench of his fists.

There was not anything routine about Naruto coming over to Kakashi's, but for some reason every time he knocked the silver-haired jounin was always there. It was like he had a sixth sense or something; it was like he knew exactly when to be home.

The genin raised his fist to tap on the door, but it swung open just as he was about to make a sound.

"I'd know your footsteps anywhere," a fully awake Kakashi Hatake said as the entrance was propped open. However, the man did not say anything about anticipating his student's arrival. "I made some tea. I'll pour you a cup."

Naruto followed the man in after slipping off his sandals. The sun was peeking through the closed blinds, but only just. The time of day was early still and the sun had just risen. He wondered just how early Kakashi actually got up every morning for a moment, but then he realized that _he _had been getting up before the sun for a while now.

"What's on your mind, dear pupil of mine?" questioned Kakashi in a sing-song voice as he placed the steaming mug of tea on the table in front of where Naruto slid a chair backward to sit on.

The boy snorted at his usual antics. "The usual."

"Ah," came the calming reply.

For days Naruto came to Kakashi's home and they had the same routine almost every time. They would sit down at the table and eat something or drink something for a few hours, just talking about this and that, but mostly a very particular topic.

For some reason, Naruto felt like he could really trust Kakashi to confide in. It was like the man really understood where he was coming from. He did not want to worry Sasuke or Itachi after what they had been eavesdropping on really hit them. He did not want to bring Sakura into it and risk her fussing over him like a mother hen. His own mother couldn't help, not because she did not want to, but because she did not know how to deal with Minato's self-deprecating personality at the moment. Jiraya was out of the picture until he came back from spying around the world again to report his findings. Shikamaru and Chouji would not understand…

So Kakashi was who he had left.

That day outside of the Uchiha District, Naruto did not think that he was actually accept the hand the man was willing to offer. But for some reason or another, it was like his legs automatically brought him there.

And for once in a while, he could feel a bit more lighthearted.

"I've been talking to the Hokage," Kakashi informed with a drawl. "Been trying to ask him why I haven't seen him on the training fields with you lately." He groaned, "I got the usual answer."

Naruto nodded. It was not anything new. "The Chuunin Exams," the genin stated seriously, "You know I know about them." He had told his mentor about what he had overheard a few days previously. At first he was met with a cold silence and a quietly simmering ire that Itachi had gone so directly against orders, but after a talk with the teen, Kakashi had come around and saw reason.

Itachi _wanted_ Naruto to know, even if Sasuke did not. He thought it was for the best because of what was going on, and it was not just strategically wise, but more so. Naruto and Sasuke could not tell anyone besides their sensei that they knew, of course. They found out later that the team not knowing had more to do with the possibility of enemies snaking it out of them later on rather than just a simple order, but still…Naruto _had _to know.

Itachi sympathized the kid because for a short while he had gone through the same treatment from his own family. That is, until all the rumors that the Uchiha were involved with the Kyuubi Attack were successfully dissipated. It was like a burden had been lifted because he had less expectations riding on him.

Though Naruto also got the feeling that it was also because the teen had been on a temporary team with Asuma Sarutobi in the past and they had establish some sort of understanding friendship. And Naruto knew that Asuma and his father, the Third Hokage, had similar problems that did not end up well at all. To this day the Third and his remaining son were not on great terms with each other.

Perhaps it was that kind of fear the Naruto held. He did not want to end up like that…practically estranged because he could not bring himself to speak to his own flesh and blood. Though with the way things were going, it seemed like it might happen.

Damn he hated it.

"I'm just a weapon for the village."

"Stop saying that," replied Kakashi swiftly and fiercely. "I thought we taught you better than that."

It was strange. Whatever he started developing towards his father in terms of feeling was not just distance, it was some kind of irrational anger, but it was also sadness. (2) He so desperately wanted the father he had before back, the dad he could come home to that would give him advice on anything, train with him, and tease him. But then the anger would come in and he did not want to see his dad. He just wanted to see him as the Hokage because at least nothing would be so complicated.

In fact, part of him hated his dad for being so dumb. He understood inherently why things were going on as they were, but he did not want to accept them.

So the resentment and frustration built up so much that he could not talk to the Hokage without sounding the least bit mad. And the anger grew to the point where he was not just angry with the Hokage, but with himself and how nothing was getting resolved either.

"It's so stupid," the blond fumed. "How is this better for me?"

There was a pause in the conversation. Then, Kakashi clicked his mug to the tabletop. "Did I ever tell you why my father distanced himself?"

He received a negative reply.

"It was because he started to become a famous shinobi. More and more people wanted him dead, so he thought that the best way to put me out of it was to pretend that I was practically not there," the jounin supplied as an answer. "It wasn't fair to either of us, and it was utterly stupid…and I felt the same as you…mad at him, mad at me, mad at what was happening. Until…well…"

Naruto raised his blue eyes. "Until what?"

"…until he was finally gone."

Naruto sucked in a breath and took a gulp out of his tea with a frown.

Kakashi breathed in and out as he looked at the student across from him. "In the end I only grew more angry and bitter. My anger at my father from before became hatred. I hated him and his actions. I hated that he had to kill himself because he was so depressed. I hated that he left me behind. But you know what?" And this time he really made sure to get the point across. "My weapon of choice was a family heirloom…my father's own weapon.

"No matter how I thought I felt, there was a part of me that didn't hate him."

The irrational emotions that filled Naruto's system started to seep out for a bit, but he knew they would return. His teacher suggested that the Hokage and his son would actually try to _speak to one another_ as opposed to what they were doing at the moment. Reluctantly, the Namikaze agreed to try it.

Then, there was a tapping on the window and a Konoha hawk was pecking its beak on the glass. A scroll was strapped to its back. The jounin went to the window to retrieve the message and unfurled it to read it. He signed and handed Naruto the note.

On the paper it read:

_On the Hokage's orders, genin Naruto Namikaze is to learn the Rasengan from jounin Kakashi Hatake in preparation for its possible use in the Chuunin Exams._

_Signed,  
>Iruka Umino<em>

All thoughts of simply talking to his dad left his head at that very moment. The anger welled up in him and Kakashi knew it all too well. There was no stopping the raging hurricane now. Naruto was out the door before he could pay the hawk back with a cracker and a pat on the head. But once that he was done with that, the man sprinted after his student.

Naruto was at the Hokage's office in minutes with Kakashi hot on his heels as he arrived seconds later, and even as the man tried to stop him from what he knew the boy was about to do, it was too late. The outburst had already begun.

"You're _what_?" Naruto fumed. His hand balled tightly into fists. "You're _ordering me to learn the Rasengan_?"

The boy was met with a cold stare from the Fourth Hokage in question.

Naruto's face scrunched up angrily and unwittingly his eyes turned glassy with irritated tears. "I don't even know who you are anymore! I would have gladly learned the Rasengan anyway, but this—" He gestured wildly with his arm to the open air. "This is—"

"You'll start your training with your assigned sensei as soon as possible," replied the man steadily behind his desk. Luckily, none of the chuunin were in the office as well.

Suddenly, the genin took a deep breath, inhaling slowly and closing his eyes. When he let out a breath, he continued. "Forget it," he said considerably more calmly, albeit with residual anger. "Understood…_Hokage-sama_." The last word was said sarcastically and with a hint of venom, then the younger Namikaze spun on his heels and stormed out the door, slamming it behind him.

Kakashi stared at his sensei with a display of disappointment lingering in his single visible eye and with an indescribable feeling, Minato lowered his gaze stoically.

With some invisible line crossed, Naruto and Minato's relationship with each other took a turn for the worse during the period of time that lead to the actual start of the Exams. Naruto did not even attempt to try to call his father by any familiar titles anymore; instead he called the man by his official one in any conversation held with anyone, except with his mother with whom he referred to him simply though the usage of male pronouns.

Kakashi would teach Naruto the steps of the Rasengan during the team's training sessions, but Naruto's frustration with his father was also somehow directed at anything he was ordered to do by the Hokage and as a result his lessons learning the A-class technique were not getting very far. Thankfully, Naruto's overall progress as a shinobi was not deteriorating, but if the teacher had any say, he would have put off the Rasengan until the entire spat was over.

If it was ever going to be over, that is.

Naruto acted fairly normally around his friends and teammates and for the most part it was like nothing was wrong, but the sudden distance was unmistakable. It was so bad that some of it was projected unto Kushina, a person he used to confide in all the time. When she would yell at him for being so coldshouldered, Naruto would simply shrug it off. It would sometimes even get to the point where she would sigh and give up, a trait that was so foreign to her personality.

Naruto would often leave practice for Sasuke's home or if he was not available, the blond would take off to walk around the village on his own unlike before when he would enthusiastically leap from rooftop to rooftop just to taste his mother's home cooked meals.

It was on one of these walks that Naruto spotted a pale, black-haired shinobi that appeared about his age. He looked like he was coming from the direction of the Hokage Tower, an observation that Naruto saw to with a hint of bitterness.

The boy had short hair and a strange all black outfit that was cropped short, just above his torso which was exposed. He wore black pants and the traditional shinobi sandals. Strapped to his back was a short sword. Naruto raised his eyebrows. He had not seen that ninja before.

He was about to walk by when suddenly, something clicked. "Sai," Naruto said, confusion in his voice.

The boy turned to him at the sound of his name. "I'm sorry, do I know you? How do you know my name?"

"I—I don't know," responded the blond genin. "You just seem really familiar."

He got an odd questioning stare in return.

"I'm Naruto Namikaze," supplied the boy hesitantly as if in an afterthought, "I guess I'll see you around…"

"See you around…dickless."

At the awful nickname, Naruto was opening and closing his mouth like a guppy fish. For some reason, even as the boy turned and disappeared in the crowds, he felt like he should feel more insulted that some stranger, a guy he had never met before in his life, had called him something so rude. But for some reason, the rudeness felt familiar.

Shaking his head, he remembered what his team was informed earlier that day…

"_Okay! Team Seven will report to Hokage Tower tomorrow morning at 0900 hours sharp for briefing on the Chuunin Exams_," sang the Kakashi in his mind. "_See you then!_" And then he had puffed away in a cloud of a billowing smokescreen.

So, as usual, he went home without any rush.

The next morning, Naruto found himself alone. No food was prepared for him this time. Perhaps it was payback from the time Naruto ignored his mother the evening previously, not that he cared. It was not like everyone would be at the table anyway.

He grabbed a bowl from one of the cabinets and shoved leftover rice into it. He retrieved an egg from the refrigerator and cracked it just above, then he poured a bit of liquid brown soy sauce into the yolk for a nice tasty effect. After sitting down, he took a pair of chopsticks and swirled the eggs around before digging in by himself.

By himself.

It was not always like that.

Damn, he might as well not have any parents at all if they were both going to be like that. His anger at his father did not help. But the thought of no parents struck him in the core. He shook his head furiously and continued to eat. He had an appointment with the Hokage that morning after all. He was going to turn in the application to join the Chuunin Exams _just like his dad knew he would_.

He groaned into his rice and huffed. Something saltier than the soy sauce trickled onto his taste buds. With a startling realization, Naruto realized that he had tears coming out of his eyes. He clenched his chopsticks tightly, closing his eyelids shut so tight that he willed the tears to stop welling up and off of his lashes.

A frustrated _bang _resounded for a few seconds after he placed his empty bowl into the sink and then he wiped his eyes clean with a sleeve on his jacket. He told himself that it was no time for emotional outbursts. He needed to calm down.

The rest of Naruto's morning routine went along as fine as it could be. He gathered his supplies and his pack, noting that he had to have enough stuff for at least two weeks as he would be in Suna for a month at the maximum. He could restock there, but it was so much cheaper to have supplies on hand.

And then when he finally arrived, it seemed for once he was the last one. Even Kakashi was there before him. He raised an eyebrow. He was only a minute late. Kakashi eye-smiled at him and rubbed the back of his neck. Naruto could only deduce that someone told the guy that the time changed to 0700 rather than 0900 in order to make sure that he was there on time. It was the only feasible explanation on hand.

Considering that the rest of Team Seven was there, they were all going to the Chuunin Exams and so they gave their applications to one of the desk chuunin.

And then the Hokage spoke and Naruto silently simmered. "You will be leaving today for Sunagakure located in the Wind Country. It will take you three days at top speed and I expect you all to leave together and arrive together." He did not even glace at Team Seven.

"Take a look around you," Minato commanded, "Your three teams will be representing the Leaf in these Exams. So do your best, as always."

Naruto did look around, if only for the fact that he was curious. In the background, the Fourth was introducing each team and team member, but the jinchuuriki ignored it for his own observations. Of course there was his own team that consisted of himself, Sasuke, Sakura, and Kakashi-sensei. Then there was another team that was a year older than him. He recognized Might Gai in his trademark forest green training spandex coupled with orange leg warmers, and Neji Hyuuga who he had been acquainted with for some time.

"Ten Ten," he whispered to himself with the stark realization that he somehow knew the girl in foreign-looking pink attire with brown hair in dual buns, "and Rock Lee…" Could it have been that strange guy from his dream from before? No…

And then the other team was Team Eleven. Itachi was their sensei. A girl he had never seen before named Chihiro was the female of the group. Her hair was wavy and dark and tied into a high ponytail. But it was the other two that really gotten him. One of them was Sai and the other one made his spine tingle in what could only be called fear and anticipation, like his body knew him but his mind didn't.

It was a guy that looked a bit older than he was with round glasses and silvery-white hair that was tied up. Bangs alighted on the sides of his face. But was it was the smile that this guy had—a smile that seemed like he was hiding something underneath a façade.

And then, a name rang into his brain with all the malice in the world with a voice that was unmistakably the Fox's.

"_Kabuto Yakushi_."

The frustration at his father was already there, and then the strange thought he had been having about knowing people he really shouldn't know the names of. The dreams, the Warp Memory…maybe now it all made sense. A part of him remembered something terrible. A part of him remembered that he was supposedly in a loop…but what was he supposed to do about it? How was he supposed to get out?

He was supposed to go to the Chuunin Exams and follow orders, and he would.

But he kept asking himself over and over—even as the three teams exited the gates of the village—why did he recall a memory in the back of his mind of this Kabuto reading a card aloud that recorded his stats and that his name was Naruto Uzumaki?

And why did some part of Naruto agree that that was his real name?

Even though he was really angry at the Hokage, he did not think that his subconscious would be angry enough to erase his last name from his life.

"_Now you're starting to get it_," he heard the Fox murmur as he leapt from tree to tree behind his sensei, "_Naruto _Uzumaki."

**Coming up next… (In one month.)**

**Chapter Eight: Magnum Opus Part I (Sandstorm)**

**Answers to questions that you might have been wanting to ask…**

(1) _Gamatabi _means something along the lines of "Journey Toad."

(2) "_It was strange. Whatever he started developing towards his father in terms of feeling was not just distance, it was some kind of irrational anger, but it was also sadness." _The conflict between Naruto and Minato's relationship here was introduced based on personal experience with my mother. And I have to say that this is exactly what I felt because it came out of nowhere. Like Naruto and Minato, we had been very close for years and then suddenly she had started to distance herself from me a few years ago because she got sick and even though she got better she did not want to get too close because she thought it was be better for me, even though now our relationship is strained.


End file.
